EX LIBRIS
The Cooper Union
Museum Library
THE GIFT OF
Anonymous
Artistic Houses
BEING A SERIES OF
Ctlekatetr '§amtB in % Wimttii ^Mtn
WITH
A Description of the Art Treasures contained therein
VOLUME TWO.— PART II
NEW YORK
PRINTED FOR THE SUBSCRIBERS
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
MDCCCLXXXIV
Al
>■ /-
X,
MAR 3 01050
309817
X
Si.
CONTENTS AND LIST OF PLATES.
VOLUME TWO.— PART II.
MR. R. T. WILSON'S HOUSE - - - - - - 107
DINING-ROOM.
MR. JAMES W. ALEXANDER'S HOUSE - - - - 109
HALL.
MR. ASA P. POTTER'S HOUSE - - - - - - m
HALL.
MR. H. O. ARMOUR'S HOUSE - - - - - - 115
HALL.
DINING-ROOM.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES'S HOUSE - - - 117
HALL.
HALL (Second View).
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM.
DINING-ROOM (Second View).
GENERAL C. A. WHITTIER'S HOUSE - - - - 121
HALL.
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM. -
MRS. WHITTIER'S BOUDOIR.
'J
MR. R. H. WHITE'S HOUSE ------ 125
PARLOR. '
GENERAL N. L. ANDERSON'S HOUSE - " - - - 127
HALL.
DINING-ROOM.
SITTING-ROOM.
Artistic Houses.
MRS. BOWLER'S HOUSE ------- 129
HALL. ,• .:
MR. GODDARD'S HOUSE - - - - - ^ - 133
LIBRARY.
DINING-ROOM.
DR. HAVEN'S HOUSE ---__>_ 135
DINING-ROOM. '
MR. JOSEPH H. WHITE'S HOUSE - - - - - 139
DINING-ROOM. • ^
MR. W. S. HOYT'S HOUSE ------ 143
HALL.
MR. JOSEPH S. DECKER'S HOUSE - - - - - 145
DINING-ROOM.
MR. JOHN WOLFE'S HOUSE - - - - - - 149
DINING-ROOM.
MR. JOHN TAYLOR JOHNSTON'S HOUSE - - - 151
PARLOR.
DR. WILLIAM T. LUSK'S HOUSE - - - - - 153
DINING-ROOM.
MR. GILBERT R. PAYSON'S HOUSE - - - - - 155
DINING-ROOM.
MR. W. S. KIMBALL'S HOUSE ------ 159
HALL.
. LIBRARY.
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S HOUSE - - - - - 161
RECEPTION-ROOM AND HALL.
'. DINING-ROOM.
DRAWING-ROOM.
• 1 . MUSIC-ROOM.
BEDROOM.
HALL (looking West).
■ . -- •.. HALL (Second View).
THE REV. PHILLIPS BROOKS'S LIBRARY - - - - 165
VIEW OF LIBRARY.
- i , ■
1~
Contents and List of Plates.
MR. HENRY S. HOVEY'S HOUSE - - - - - 167
SITTING-ROOM.
MR. FRANK FURNESS'S SMOKING-ROOM - - - - 169
VIEW OF SMOKING-ROOM.
MR. JOHN G. CHAPMAN'S HOUSE - - - - - 171
GALLERY.
VILLA BOSCOBEL, THE HOME OF MRS. WILLIAM B.
OGDEN --------- 173
LIBRARY.
MR. KNIGHT D. CHENEY'S HOUSE - - - - - 181
DRAWING-ROOM.
MR. SWITS CONDE'S HOUSE - - - - - - 183
HALL.
MR. JOHN L. GARDNER'S (JR.) HOUSE - - - - 185
HALL.
MR. FRANKLIN H. TINKER'S HOUSE - - - - 187
LIBRARY.
MR. C. OLIVER ISELIN'S HOUSE - - - - - 189
HALL.
MR. H. M. FLAGLER'S HOUSE ------ 191
HALL.
MR. HENRY BELDEN'S HOUSE ------ 193
DINING-ROOM.
MR. JAMES W. WADSWORTH'S HOUSE - - - - 195
HALL.
MR. WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER'S HOUSE - - - - 197
DRAWING-ROOM.
A DRAWING-ROOM IN FIFTY-FIFTH STREET, NEW
YORK -------. Plate
>
a^w ^- w-t " ^
MR. R. T. WILSON'S HOUSE.
The most artistic room in Mr. R. T. Wilson's house, No. 511
Fifth Avenue, is the library, finished, furnished, and decorated by Messrs.
Duncan, Johnston, and Fenton, of New York City. The wood-work
throughout is of San Domingo mahogany, every piece of which came ^re ma-
from .the same log, and possesses remarkably fine qualities of grain and -n^ood-work.
color. Mahogany, of course, is mahogany, wherever found; but the
mahogany in Mr. Wilson's library gains the attention of those interested
in the varieties of native and foreign woods, and could not be dupli-
cated in the market every day. This excellent specimen of an excellent
wood has been used in the room without reserve — even the Venetian
shutters, whose blinds are provided with a patent adjustment which
holds their slats in any desired position, were made entirely of it. It
enters into the old English mantel, with ornamentation of Mexican
onyx; into the five-feet-high dado; into the series of book-cases; into
the doors, casements, and trimmings. The chief feature of Mr. Wilson's "^he libra-
library is the book-cases, which occupy the entire length of the wall
opposite the mantel, and are built in two stages and three compart-
ments, the central part carried up a stage higher than its adjoining
parts, and its lower doors showing some admirable carving. Shelves,
intended for holding large books while they are being read, can be
drawn out on either side; and each of the glass doors of the upper
section of the central part is hinged with piano-hinges, which conceal
themselves. The joinery of these book-cases could not easily be im-
proved, and the lapse of months does not reveal in it any disposition
to show traces of warping.
Perfect
io8 Artistic Houses.
Library Perfect harmony runs through the walls, of dark green, with a
decoration. ^ ^ ^ .
texture in paint, and subdued gold patterns; the curtains, of brown
and red plush, with gold bands and fringe; the furniture, covered with
red plush; the ceiling, paneled in mahogany, the panels inclosing a gold
ground of canvas, painted with floral designs; the frieze, treated in
conventional ornament, on a gold ground of canvas ; and the general
tone of red — making the room a source of real pleasure to the artistic
sense.
Mr. Wilson's dining-room is finished in oak, with an oak dado,
and its wall-spaces are hung with a gray-green modern French tapestry.
The anteroom, between the parlor and library, has wood-work of a
lighter mahogany than the library, and gold fresco decorations on the
walls and ceiling. The drawing-room is Louis guinze, in white-and-
goid. n©
MR. JAMES W. ALEXANDER'S HOUSE.
Mr. James W. Alexander's house, No. 50 West Fifty-fourth Street,
engages the attention of every passer-by who cares for architectural
beauty. The facade, composed of Carlyle stone in the basement and '^hefa-
first story, of red brick in the second and third stories, and of a modi-
fied Mansard-roof, with two dormer-windows, is simple, old-fashioned,
and homogeneous, and possesses in large measure what the painters call
breadth of effect, besides being broad, literally speaking. All the orna-
mentation is of the mildest and most unobtrusive description, and the
spirit of this modesty extends even to the design of the oriel-window
above the principal entrance.
Passing the inner vestibule of oak and entering the hall, the note of "fhe hall.
domesticity strikes the ear at once. You are in a room rather than in
a hallj a fire is burning on the large hearth at your right; an oaken
screen, from which projects a cushioned seat in balcony-fashion, sepa-
rates you from the staircase; and ponibres of red-and-gold-colored plush
hide the openings into the library at the left, and the rear hall in
front. The mantel, treated with great simplicity of outline, but prettily
carved, rises above a fire-opening lined with- glazed red brick. A
wainscoting of oak, five feet high, extends around the walls, which
above consist of wood and bronze plates combined, in order to prevent
what otherwise might have been too much heaviness of effect — this sac-
rifice of seriousness making space for more richness and more lightness.
The ceiling is beamed and paneled in American white-oak, slightly
darkened. Easy-chairs stand in front of the fire, and the sense of home
prevails as the best welcome that domestic architecture can create.
In
'^o Artistic Houses.
In the library the general tone is produced by the presence, in
abundance, of stained cherry. Above a wainscoting of this material the
wall-spaces, separated by wide ribs of the same wood, are filled with
blue flock-paper, and, higher still, above the line from which the
ceiling springs, with similar paper, touched oiF with several delicate
shades of bronze. The beamed and paneled ceiling is of stained cherry
also, an effect resembling that of a heightened tint of mahogany. In
Stained addition to the stained-glass transoms of the two front windows, one
glass. ° ^
notices the soft, rich tones of the stained glass of the small alcove near
the window that is nearest to the front door — a pleasing little retreat
where choice bric-h-brac and knickknacks reign. The four beams
across the ceiling make four intersections about six feet from the four
corners of the room, and from each point of intersection hangs a
copper lantern, of chaste and suitable design, which gives a motif for
that arrangement of the wood-work. Other special features of a sub-
ordinate kind appear in the decoration of this house, and speak of the
intelligence of the general plan of which they are luminous parts.
Oak wood- Opening directly from the library is the dining-room, whose wood-
dming' work of oak appears in paneled wainscoting, and in paneled but not
beamed ceiling. The wall-spaces are covered with a heavy, embossed
leather-paper, up to the level of the mantel-shelf, and with a painted
flock-paper above it. The impression made by the whole has the
elements of the livable and the elegant ; the taste for luxury is satisfied
if not sated, and the taste for domesticity is more than satisfied. The
decoration of this house is based upon the theory that, if you carry
ornamentation beyond a certain point, you are in danger of losing the
value of what you have already obtained ; that if the effect is not
destined to be undone, much must be left not done; and everywhere
within the building you notice an affectionate and sedulous respect for
the theory.
The floors of this house are laid in hard wood, and covered with
Eastern and Western rugs of various patterns. The architect is Mr.
Robert H. Robertson, who also designed all the decorations.
room.
MR. ASA P. POTTER'S HOUSE.
On a rocky bluff, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is situated Mr.
Asa p. Potter's fine house at Nantasket, Massachusetts. Behind it is ^
a vast stretch of cedar-forests, while in the distant west appear the
Boston State-House and the Blue Hills. Out of the rock on which
the building stands the cellar was blasted, and at the northwest corner
is a formidable bastion, into which the front piazza leads directly.
The size and height pf the hall, together with the gallery that goes
quite around it, at once impress the visitor to Mr. Potter's mansion.
All the wood-work is of old oak, with a wainscot five feet high, and
over the mantel-shelf is a happily-arranged group of antique armor.
The ceiling is of bronze color, and the walls are of yellow olive. A
novel effect is produced by the oaken screen of the stairway, which Nvcel
cfFcct
acts also as a railing to the second flight of stairs, and in which the
architect has inserted a very pretty oval window, hung with a silk
curtain of neutral reds and yellows. One of the portibres is of a
terra-cotta silk-and-linen fabric, trimmed in bluish gray; the other of a
bluish-gray fabric, trimmed in terra-cotta. The stained glass of the
doors and windows is extremely beautiful when the sun shines through
them from the southwest. It is easy to see, therefore, that this hall is
a very noble feature of the house.
Mr. Potter's private sitting-room, at the right of the principal en-
trance, is fitted up in California redwood, the walls tinted a light olive,
the frieze an olive-and-gold. Two cabinet-doors in the pretty mantel
conceal the time-tables of the steam-cars and steamboat to Boston. On
the right and left are cupboards, and above them book-cases. In the
dining-room,
112 Artistic Houses.
dining-room, whose wood-work is of cherry, the plaster of the olive walls
has been combed with a coarse comb, above a wainscot five feet high.
German Just outside of this apartment is a German tea-room, with a swinging
lantern, a direct entrance to the china-closet, and an uninterrupted view
of Nantasket Beach and the ocean. Its fine northern exposure and its
commanding view make this a most inviting retreat in summer, espe-
cially as it is really a part of the extensive piazza in front of the house.
Let us look a moment at some other conveniences of a sort to
delight the soul of the housekeeper. The spacious refrigerator is filled
with several tons of ice from the outside of the building, and is a
room by itself, very accessible to both kitchen and dining-room. The
kitchen has an extraordinary number of cubic feet of closet-room, and
indeed throughout the house one notices the presence of this admirable
trait. The back stairs conduct downward to a commodious laundry
and wine-room, and upward to the servants' quarters, which are entirely
shut off from the rest of the building. Beneath the principal stairway,
and very accessible to the front door, is a large and fully-equipped
dressing-room for guests, the wood-work being entirely of cherry.
Electric bells are found everywhere that one would expect or care to
find them, and running water courses through the house from the cele-
brated Accord Pond, whose contents have been discovered by actual
analysis to be the third for purity in the country.
Hosfsbed- If ^e ascend to the second floor we find the host's bedroom and
room and
room.
dressing- dressing-room at the northwest corner — its walls in turquoise blue, its
furniture of bird's-eye maple, its bath-room in cherry — and all the
family rooms so arranged as easily to be thrown together en suite.
And, on going to the third floor, especially to the balcony on the
north, we are again struck by the extent and beauty of the ocean
view. The balcony- windows on this side of the house are French
doors set in frames, and, in order to open them, it is necessary first to
lift door and frame several inches from their resting-place. In this
way, when they are shut again, all draughts are entirely excluded, the
doors looking to all intents and purposes precisely like windows.
- The
Mr. Asa P. Potter's House. 113
The walls of the drawing-room — to descend to- the first floor — pre- "fhe draw-
ing-room.
sent the novel effect of a dark blue shading up to a pale blue, the
frieze and ceiling being of lemon-and-gold. In the library the walls
are a pale terra-cotta^ so combed in the plaster as often to catch the
light in varied grays. The large, old-fashioned standing clock, on the
first landing of the stairs, tells a story of its own. Finally, it is to be
noted that the arrangement of the rocky and in some places precipitous
grounds shows excellent taste in landscape-gardening. A rustic lodge,
with a thatched roof, is in process of construction at the entrance to
Mr. Potter's handsome place.
i
MR. H. O. ARMOUR'S HOUSE.
Mr. H. O. Armour's house, at the corner of Sixty-seventh Street
and Fifth Avenue, fronting on the Central Park, is a massive and
handsome edifice of brick and brown sandstone, four stories high, with
basement and sub-basement. Its round, muUioned bay-windows run up '^he fa-
cade.
to the third story : beneath them, on the Sixty-seventh Street side, are
carved panels, in the style of the Italian Renaissance; above them,
pretty balustrades of wrought-iron work, and, higher still, Queen Anne
gables. The projecting porch on Fifth Avenue shows caryatides sup-
porting a richly-carved pediment; and the steps have three broad land-
ings, with two turns, the balustrade being a massive panel of bronze.
The basement walls and the circular bay-windows are both of stone.
Simplicity of effect, especially in the picturesque sky-lines, seems to
have been the leading aim of the architects (Messrs. Lamb and Rich),
and they have accomplished it without falling into barrenness. Before
entering the building, we may notice the delicacy of the wrought-iron
work of the area-railing. .
Undoubtedly the chief feature of Mr. Armour's hall is the mezza- Mezzanine
story.
nine story, occupying its full width. To this mezzanine story the
staircase ascends easily, and the guest finds himself on a mezzanine
balcony, with a delicate open-work railing (seen in our illustration),
through which he looks down into the hall below, and toward the
front door. The first turn of the staircase leads to the second story.
Particular notice will be taken of the delicately-carved fire-place, under
the mezzanine balcony, and of the large stained-glass window above the
fire-place, which lights the toilet-rooms. All the wood- work is of
white
"6 Artistic Houses.
i\
room.
white mahogany, which appears alike in the very wide — nearly square
— door, with small panels below, and stained-glass panels above; in the
band or frieze that continues the railing of the mezzanine balcony,
running midway between floor and ceiling; in the wainscoting, and in
the heavily-beamed ceiling. Lincrusta-walton has been used to cover
. the wall-spaces.
Dining- Mr. Armour's dining-room is finished in Santo Domingo mahogany,
of which material consist also the light, open work of the ceiling and
the paneled frieze. At the end of the bay-window a large mantel
occupies one side of the room, supported by carved pilasters, and orna-
mented with a carved cusp. The wainscoting, about five feet high, is
composed of paneling with a carved-panel necking, and the transoms
of the windows are filled with stained glass.
In the library we note the large and richly-carved mahogany mantel,
and in the parlor a decorative scheme in white-and-gold. Very con-
Japanese spicuous are the frescoes along the staircase-wall, from the third to the
frescoes.
fourth floor, with their representations of arbors, birds, and so on, done
in a Japanese spirit, and the massive dome of colored glass. The
house abounds in the modern improvements.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES'S HOUSE.
One of the largest and costliest of the many fine residences which
line both sides of Commonwealth Avenue, in Boston, is that of the
Hon. Oliver Ames, which, although finished but a few weeks ago, has
already taken upon itself a thoroughly home-like air. Built of massive
brown-stone, with elaborately-carved frieze ornamentation and enrich-
ments, it at once arrests the eye by its immense proportions, its richness
of well-studied detail, and its commanding situation. No site could "the situa-
have been better chosen for displaying the building at its best. On
one side the new park affords an uninterrupted view, while the broad
avenue on which the building fronts gives ample opportunity for the
beholder to admire the magnificent facade. This favorable situation has
been made the most of by the architect, Mr. Carl Pehmer, of Boston,
the evidence of whose thoughtful care and study follows one through
every turn in the interior. We enter the main hall through a vestibule
with richly-colored marbles in pavement and wainscoting, and with
vaulted ceiling softly tinted. The sides are lined with statuary, num- Statuary.
bering among them more than* one chef-d'oeuvre^ while, under a small
dome • of colored glass, the effect of a large group of figures is admi-
rably heightened by the soft light shed around it from above. The
main hall, rising to an immense dome of richly-hued glass, has a
gracefully-winding stairway, with a wealth of delicately-carved newels
and balustrade; and the generous fire-place, very artistic in design,
possesses all the suggestiveness of New England hospitality.
On the first landing of the stairs hangs Jacquet's picture, " The
First at the Summit " (celebrated for its connection with the Dumas-
Jacquet
ii8 Artistic Houses.
Jacquet " affair "). The wall along the ascent is illuminated by rich
glass windows that throw a flood of brilliant light into the room,
heightening the effect of its soft gray-blue coloring, which contrasts
beautifully with the natural-colored cherry with which the hall is
Carved trimmed. An elaborately-carved screen of open-work partly divides the
enormous lower hall, thereby bringing it into more home-like propor-
tions. Opening from the hall is a series of apartments used as library,
music-room, reception-room, and dining-hall, and, as one passes from
one of these to the other, the evidences of intelligent care in the fur-
nishing, and in harmonizing the various colors, become very manifest.
The library is finished heavily, in mahogany of a deep-red tone;
screen.
Old Fene- the walls are hung with a copy of old Venetian silk, in low tones of
tian silk. ^ . .
green and brown; the ceiling, although quiet in coloring, is one of the
finest pieces of decorative painting in the house ; and the hangings, as
well as the furniture-covering, of the same soft, greenish hue that we
find in the wall-covering, combine to form a restful ensemble. On the
walls, and indeed in the rooms generally, appear choice paintings, by
Munkacsy, Lefebvre, Delort, Landelle, and others. Mr. C. H. George,
of New York, in whose hands the library was placed, rightly regards
'The music- it as one of his best efforts. The music-room, opening directly from
room.
the library, is, from the rich and light carving of the wood-work to
the last detail of its furnishing, an ideal interior. Its deep frieze of
painted canvas must be regarded as a most successful effort of Mr,
Juglauri to modernize the spirit of Italian Renaissance painting. The
windows are hung with a rich, golden-hued plush, the tone of which
pervades the entire room ; the carved and fretted wood- work is heavily
gilded, and the ceiling gives the finishing touches to the whole. The
reception-room, also en suite with the library and music-room, is quite
Dining- their equal in artistic excellence. The large dining-hall, which crosses
hall.
the entire house, is heavily finished in carved oak, its massive wooden
ceiling, supported by caryatides nearly life-size, than which few finer
specimens of modern wood-carving exist; the subjects, chosen from the
Greek mythology, are interpreted with spirit and keen appreciation.
The
Lieutenant-Governor Ames's House. "9
The wall is covered with a dull-blue silk tapestry, an admirable foil
for the wood-work, throwing its salient features into necessary promi-
nence; while the hangings enhance the effect, being of a warm, low-
toned madder-red, with embroidere'd frieze-bands of great beauty. It
is enough to say that the admirable furnishing of this magnificent
apartment fully sustains the dignity and character of the ensemble. At
the east end, built into the wall as a permanent fixture, is the large
oaken sideboard, heavily carved and finely adapted to display the luxu-
rious table-service which it contains. Opposite the entrance-doors, the
huge, carved chimney-piece, with its bright brass fittings, adds its note ^^.^J^_
of cheer ; while the table and chairs constitute good examples of the piece.
characteristics of the school of which the apartment is a study — the
early German Renaissance. Seven windows provide abundance of light,
and the branches of candles along the walls suggest a brightness when
the curtains are drawn.
A visit to the various bedrooms shows that the attention bestowed
■ on the lower story has not stopped there. Each room is a color-study
in itself, and each seems more artistic than the preceding one. Alto-
gether, the house is such a ^one as befits a Lieutenant-Governor of
Massachusetts, and is an ornament to the city in which he lives.
GENERAL C. A. WHITTIER'S HOUSE.
Of late there have appeared in Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, so
many important private edifices that to say of any one of them, " It
is notable," means a great deal. Such a saying, however, is true of
General Whittier's new house, which, although not so large as Lieu-
tenant-Governor Ames's, nor so elaborate as Mr. Frederick L. Ames's —
each of which is distant only a stone's- throw — commands attention.
If, moreover, it does not contain the wealth of carved wood which
Lieutenant-Governor Ames's house contains, nor the wealth of marble-
work and stained-glass effects which Mr. Frederick L. Ames's house
contains, it is manifestly unnecessary to judge it by those two splendid
and costly palaces, of which, probably. Commonwealth Avenue is suffi-
ciently proud. The architectural effects in General Whittier's house Architectu-
ral effects.
are very modest in comparison with those produced elsewhere by Mr.
H. H. Richardson, the justly-celebrated architect — with even so con-
centrated an effect, for instance, as the mantel of the Rev. Phillips
Brooks's library in the rectory of Trinity Church, or so balanced and
yet sumptuous an effect as that of the interior of Mr. Knight Cheney's
house in Manchester, Connecticut; but there are many features sug-
gestive not of Mr. Richardson, indeed, to whom American architecture
is greatly indebted, but of a pupil of Mr. Richardson. That the
general's house shows no scrupulosity as respects expense is another
feature of the pupil rather than of the master; and that, in many
places, the great cost might have produced a less commonplace showing
is obvious, even to those who admire what is admirable in it.
Undoubtedly the most interesting feature of the general's house is
the
12 2 Artistic Houses.
Bamboo
frieze.
the main hall, which has been finished almost entirely in darkened oak,
the principal exception in the use of that material being the frieze,
which seems to be of bamboo, although the coloring is the same as
that of the wood-work in general. If, however, this frieze be taken
simply as a piece of bamboo imitation, the coloring is fully explained,
even if the propriety of the use of such material in an oaken hall be
questioned. No spectator, however, will question the extreme delicacy
of the special decorations of the hall- work, which appears not only
in the abundant low carving of the arches, the architraves, and the
large mantel-piece, but in the treatment of the general scheme itself;
and, if any criticism were made in connection with it, the most obvi-
ous would be that the delicacy was so extreme as to compel a wish
for the presence of a certain amount of contrasting ruggedness, or
boldness, or candor, or whatever else we may call it. The stairs are
wide and of easy ascent, and so placed as not to force the conviction
that they are robbing the hall of needed space. For the sense of
spaciousness is as vivid as the sense of modesty; the hall is practically
a room rather than an anteroom, although it would be unjust to claim
for it proportions absolutely princely. Boston, so far as the Back Bay
spacious region is concerned, is a city of spacious halls. General Whittier's hall
is spacious, but it is not particularly so, and certainly not unduly so,
at least to a Bostonian. The whole neighborhood, with its wide avenue
and its wide facades, fosters the expectation and even the demand for
roominess. Where the conditions of house-building are so ample, so
free from narrowness, so unlike, in a word, those imposed upon New
York City by the geographical configuration of the island, one looks
for large halls — one even asks for them. Both the desire and the
seeking are met in the interior aspect of General Whittier's fine man-
sion; it would, perhaps, be wishing too much to wish that they had
been perfectly satisfied.
Recess in There is largeness sufficient, however, in the recess in the library,
library. ^ ^ ^ ^ . . , .
in which the fire-opening is placed; and here, again, no considerations
of mere cost were consulted by the owner in his dealings with his
architect ;
General C. A. Whittier's House. 123
architect; while, nevertheless, the latter seems to have been positively
instructed to indulge himself in no empty shov7. The ow^ner's good
taste has been not only active and pervasive, but authoritative; and one
may imagine him to have constantly enjoined upon the man v^ho had
contracted w^ith him to be the spender of his money : " Spend w^hat
you like, but keep your effects dovv^n. If you must have a great deal
of cash in order to produce v^hat I want, remember, please, that what
I don't want is a meaningless and ostentatious show." The linings of
this recess are of colored marble, of a tone dark enough to harmonize
with the walnut finishing of the rest of the room. A few pictures
hang on the walls, the most interesting being in black-and-white, for
the furnishing, like the finishing, of the house is of a quiet and simple
order; and, as in this department the owner has been able to consult
his taste more nearly immediately than in the department of general
construction, it being possible when furnishing your home to come
more closely in contact with what you do than when building it, the
results more clearly and surely reflect his taste. In the dining-room, iVood-worh
in dining-
which opens directly from the library, the quality of the mahogany room.
wood-work is so delicate that to make a successful photographic repro-
duction was peculiarly difficult. In some rooms, full of details, length
of time seems to be the main prerequisite to such a reproduction ; but
here it was exactitude rather than length, and twenty minutes with the
camera produced effects more satisfactory than twenty hours elsewhere.
The reader will notice particularly the pleasant features of the cupboards
on either side of the mantel, and the general aim for solidity, richness,
and quietude. The color also partakes of richness and quietude, in a
key very low, but without a shade of gloom. Many city dining-rooms
are so dark, both in color and in poverty of daylight, that the impres-
sion is depressive. General Whittier has kept his dining-room low,
cool, modest, but gently stimulating as well, by reason of complete
richness of textures and perfect harmony of tone.
When we ascend to the second floor the interest of the house
increases in a sort of geometrical ratio. Here the artistic results are
produced
124 Artistic Houses.
MrsMhit- produced by the simplest of means; and particularly does Mrs. Whittier's
doir. boudoir show at how little comparative cost a beautiful effect may be
gained. All the wood-work is of light wood, not oiled or stained, but
painted a yellowish brown; and the walls are covered with paper of a
lighter tint. The simplest possible scheme of carving appears in the
mantel. In fact, we have reproduced this room to show how effective
so simple a scheme can be, not only in the mantel, but throughout
the entire apartment. The furniture, it will be seen, corresponds with
its surroundings. The consonance is complete. That closet-room — and
plenty of it — is desirable in such a place, no experienced husband will
be likely to deny; in this boudoir is an abundance of closet-room, and
the plans for it are so arranged that their fulfillment brings added
beauty and freshness. All the wood- work over and near the principal
doors, which open into the second-story hall, is made to serve the
purposes of convenient cupboards; and the very hinges on which the
doors of those cupboards swing are a charm to the eye. The bedstead
occupies a large alcove which can be entirely separated from the
boudoir itself by portibres of appropriate tone; and the toilet-table, the
lounge, the chairs — in fact, every piece of furniture — bear each some
sign of the owner's cultivated taste. To study such a room is of itself
an education in the art of furnishing one.
General Whittier's house contains no great exhibition of oil-paintings;
ADeNeu- but there hangs in the dining-room a large De Neuville, admirably
ville.
handled, a characteristic transcript of a leaf from the late Franco-
German War. The impress of a personal sentiment is on all of this
painter's work, which saves it from degenerating into the mere jour-
nalist's note-book class. His, too, is a genuine manner, free from the
monotonous smoothness of the school of David and the classics, on the
one hand, and, on the other, from the vagaries of the impressionists.
MR. R. H. WHITE'S PARLOR.
The representation of Mr. R. H. White's parlor, at his well-known
establishment in Boston, shows some effects that have not yet appeared
in this collection of interior views of American houses. The photog-
rapher has been unusually successful, and the gelatine-plate which is
founded on his work, and is used in this book, has great perspicacity
and extraordinary harmony of tone. Both the size of the room and
the largeness of its general treatment, not less than of its more impor-
tant details, make it impressive at the first glance; and, when the
spectator carries his attention to the simplicity of the materials used by
the architects (Messrs. Peabody and Stearns, of Boston) in embodying
their idea, his admiration increases. The walls are of plaster, painted l^heivalls.
many times in a low, deep tint, suggestive of old gold ; the arch
inclosing the clock is of glass mosaic; and the immense fire-place has
a facing of Victoria marble, a lining and hearth of glazed tile, and a
back of iron. A balcony at the right of the fire-place is intended for
the use of musicians.
The general effect of the decorations of this room is one of richness
in reserve. To pass directly from the crowded streets of Boston into
such a place is a strange experience daily to hundreds of Mr. White's
friends. Architecturally considered, the lines are beautiful ; and, as a
piece of color-decoration, this parlor is superb. It also stands as an The par-
lor.
instance of what may be done when the architect and the decorator
are either the same person or so united that their work is one. Messrs.
Peabody and Stearns, in most of their enterprises in Boston, have been
fortunate in having had the control of the finishing as well as of the
construction
^26 Artistic Houses.
Unity of construction of the houses erected by them. In a case like that of the
plan. ^ ''
Union League Club in New York, for example, although they furnished
the plans for the edifice, their authority over its interior decoration was
only partial. Other artists were represented also; and the dining-room
has a scheme quite apart from that of the drawing-room, and the
drawing-room a scheme quite apart from that of the hall. Some of
. Messrs. Peabody and Stearns's new houses in Commonwealth Avenue,
where their control extended to the interior effects as well as to the
exterior, present very pleasing examples of artistic unity and modesty.
GENERAL N. L. ANDERSON'S HOUSE.
General N. L. Anderson's house, No. 1530 K Street, Washington,
D. C, is easily the most interesting private residence in the capital of
the nation — a fact due to the intelligence of the general in selecting
Mr. H. H. Richardson as his architect, and also to the ripened taste
of the general himself. The first entrance into the building fixes one's
attention upon the novelty of its artistic effects. There is no house
like this one in the city, nor, for the matter of that, anywhere else,
so far as we know. The material of the wood-work of the hall is ^^ood-work
... of hall and
quartered oak, copiously ornamented with carving. Oak beams cross staircase.
one another in the ceiling. The screen-work of the staircase is
Moschrabeyah lattice, also of oak; and each banister is carved after a
pattern of its own — a device in the interest of variety rarely met with,
but which really exerts much more influence than at first one might
be inclined to suppose, for it suggests to the spectator an absence of
machine scroll-work throughout the ornamentation of the interior, it
speaks a word in favor of artistic hand-made results, and it attests an
appreciation of them on the part of the host. The mantel is of yellow
Italian marble; and the beautiful stained-glass windows are successful
representations of the spirit of sunset, in tones that run from red to
blue. The manufacturer of these fine pieces of color is Mr. Treadwell,
of Boston, and connoisseurs who have had the pleasure of seeing them
will recall the softness and richness of their lusters.
The parlor of General Anderson's house is painted a creamy white- T^hedraw-
and-gold; the ceiling is gray, with tracery of gold; and the walls are
hung with reddish tapestry, on which appears a figuring in gray. The
harmony
^28 Artistic Houses.
harmony is as complete as the aim is simple. Nothing has been done
for ostentation; yet the results obtained invite analysis, and are even
strong enough to upset certain conventional theories of specialists. Nor
does the beauty of this drawing-room pale before its frieze of appliqui
gold, in raised disks; or its portieres of old brocade, in delicate colors,
/ 1 which reappear in the coverings of the furniture ; or its blue-bordered
gray Agra rug; or, least of all, the sheen of its curtains of yellow
Japanese silk.
''"^he One of the pleasantest rooms in General Anderson's house is "The
Denr ^^ . ^
Den," which opens from the hall, near the foot of the staircase. The
tone is a dark olive-green, and both walls and ceiling are covered with
gold-and-red Japanese paper. There is some excellent cabinet-work
here, and the whole appearance of the place is charming.
No effort has been spared to realize an excellent ideal of a dining-
room; and what Mr. John Lafarge's stained-glass windows have failed
to accomplish is supplemented by the mantel of Sienna marble and the
Portrait by carvings of San Domingo mahogany. A beautiful portrait, by Gilbert
Stuart. Stuart, is inserted in the wood-work above the mantel-shelf, which
represents that distinguished painter in the way in which his admirers
like to see him — that is to say, in the way in which all of them will
agree that he infinitely surpasses Benjamin West.
General Anderson's house, we repeat, is a happy illustration of the
unique effects that may follow a judicious choice of an architect. Mr.
H. H. Richardson's genius is chiefly confined nowadays to the erec-
tion of public buildings of importance, and in such work his faculties
undoubtedly have freer and therefore pleasanter scope than in the
construction of private houses. It is not likely that he will again try
his skill in the latter direction, because his health is delicate, and his
enterprises already in hand are many. But General Anderson's house
is so choice in its plan, so elegant in its appointments, and so novel
in the beauty of its principal artistic results, that Mr. Richardson him-
self might easily be satisfied with it.
MRS. BOWLER'S HOUSE.
Mrs. G. B. Bowler's house, at Bar Harbor, Maine, was built by
Messrs. Rotch and Tilden, of Boston. It is one of those structures
that belong especially to the new era of American architecture, upon
which we entered about four years ago, and which has not yet given
full manifestation either of its presence or its promise. In a series of
articles now appearing in " The Century " magazine, an effort is
making to do in another form, and on a smaller scale, what has been
doing in " Artistic Houses," namely, to show choice examples of the
spirit of this new and notable epoch; and in that series Mrs. Bowler's
house appears with deserved prominence. To us the edifice is interest- ^h^ ^^t^^-
ing, not merely in itself, but in its relation to scores of successors that
will soon follow it amid the enchanting scenes of Bar Harbor, for
enchanting those scenes certainly are; the blue of the waters is more
profoundly blue than the Mediterranean \ the curved lines of the many
harbors repeat, on a magnificent scale, Hogarth's line of beauty ; the
mountain scenery is majestic ; the islands rival in beauty and in site the
Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence; the atmosphere is bracing as is
no tonic of the materia medica; and the numerous coves and bays
offer to the yachtsman and the canoeist the pleasantest and safest
retreats. Boston architects expect to reap a rich harvest at Bar Harbor;
and the fine gray-stone house of Mrs. Bowler, which Messrs. Rotch and
Tilden have set among the pines of the sands, is so original and inter-
esting in outlines that the architecture of the new era will not be loath
to own it. Of that better, freer, and larger type of art it is, as we
have said, a forerunner.
The
130 Artistic Houses.
'^hehalL The hall, which has been reproduced for the ninth section of
" Artistic Houses/' will strike most readers very favorably. It is to be
noticed, in the first place, that the architects have constructed it with
careful reference to the lighting. The sunshine has free access; and
with the sunshine come glimpses of foliage that make a pretty fret-work
athwart the window-panes. There is not a hall in our whole collection
which is so noteworthy in this respect; and the first entrance into Mrs.
Bowler's house produces a stimulating impression by reason of the abun-
dance of its luminous resources. The double ascent of the stairs is
toward the exterior landscape, and when one reaches the main landing
^hehai- he finds himself on a balcony which commands from the rear an
cony.
extensive view of out-doors, and from the front an outlook into the
first and second stories. The hangings on the wall are, in the main,
of Eastern stuffs, delicate in tones and textures; there is an abundance
of them, and their arrangement is tasteful. The carvings of the wood
are carried far enough to secure attention, but not far enough to
become self-assertive.
Inside the house the effort has been to combine the solid attractions
of a city home with the less solid attractions of the typical home by
the sea-side, although, as at Newport, the tendency toward long sojourns
grows, and with it the disposition to make the sea-side abode as com-
fortable as urban tastes demand.
Wood' The wood-work of the hall is strongly-grained ash, unfilled, to give
work.
full force to the grain, and stained black. The walls above the dado
are covered with paper, having alternating courses of cream and soft
yellow, with blue lions rampant on the cream courses, the whole imi-
tating the paint on the stone-wall surfaces of mediaeval castles.
The dining-room, opening at the right of the hall, and extending
the depth of the house, has a very high dado, stained a dark brown.
The drawing-room, at the left of the hall, is in white-and-gold ; and
the library beyond is in deep brownish-reds. Through these rooms is
a vista of eighty feet.
The first story of the house outside is of stone, with trimmings of
red
Mrs. Bowler's House. 131
red granite, and walls of gray granite, whose faces were split designedly
from surface-ledges. The second story is half-timbered, got out by
hand to give the axe-marks, and painted a deep red. The roof is "theroof,
sprinkled with red and dark pebbles, and stained very dark. The gen-
eral style of the building may be described as mediaeval. Very interest-
ing is the situation, under the shoulder of a craggy bluff, but still high
above the sea, which almost throws its spray over the piazza in front,
and runs into a quiet cove beside it.
MR. GODDARD'S HOUSE.
Sir Joshua Reynolds used to say of Frank Hals, the Dutch portrait-
painter, that the features of the faces which he painted were so well
" put together," as the painters say, that the character of individual
nature was strongly marked, to a degree not found in any other painter,
and that, had he joined to this most difficult part of the art a patience
in finishing what he had so correctly planned, he might have claimed
the place which Vandyke, all things considered, so justly holds as the
first of portrait-painters. And Hazlitt has observed that, while the
gross style consists in giving no details, and the finical style in giving
nothing else. Nature contains both large and small parts, both masses
and details; and so do the most perfect works of art. The union of
both kinds of excellence, of strength with delicacy, as far as the limits
of human capacity and the shortness of human life permit, is that
which has established the reputation of the most successful architects;
and this truth is suggested, in some measure at least, by Mr. Goddard's
house at Providence, Rhode Island, which has acquired a reputation
much wider than the confines of that city.
The architects of this building, Messrs. Stone and Carpenter, have Novel ef-
fects in
succeeded in producing a number of novel effects, especially in the ivood-zuork.
interior, and the first of these to be noted in this article is the treat-
ment of the frame-work of the sliding-doors between the library and
the dining-room. In any ordinary scheme this treatment would seem
almost obtrusive on account of the importance given to it by the size
of the panels, the abundance of the arches, and the elaboration of the
carvings ; but the ceiling, the book-cases, the single doors, and the
mantels,
134 Artistic Houses.
mantels, have been worked up to it faithfully and harmoniously. The
difficulty of preventing the facings and the pillars from being too
assertive is obvious to any one who will observe their values, even in
iVood-work the illustration. Examine the library, and see how the wood-work
in the li-
brary, border of the ceiling supplies a needed strength, and how generously
the wide shelves of the book-cases are provided with moldings and
carvings. The hard- wood parquetry is only partly covered with Eastern
rugs, whose patterns suit the frescoed designs of the center of the ceil-
ing; and the upholstery of the furniture repeats the tints of the wall-
spaces and the hangings. Throughout this library the spirit of the
decoration shows no haste to be something for its own sake, no thirst
for notoriety, but rather a solid and substantial reticence that comes of
a recognition of an ulterior aim to make the room fit for its purpose.
Even the paintings that adorn the walls are witnesses to the same
pervasive sense. A great artist in furniture, says a contemporaneous
essayist, might find public appreciation nowadays. He might find some
pleasure, we think, in the tables and chairs of Mr. Goddard's library;
and, if any student will recall the antique designs preserved in the
Museum of South Kensington, and written about in the illustrated
manuals, the furniture of this room will not appeal to him less sympa-
thetically.
This library opens into a delightful dining-room, where the wood-
work, particularly of the mantel and the sideboard, presents unusual
Dining- grace of line and delicacy of ornamentation. The architectural features
room man-
tel, of the mantel have been very carefully thought out, and will bear a
studious examination, entering almost into that cultivation of daily life,
by the presence of objects of beauty, which demands direct criticism
scarcely more than the blue sky itself. This dining-room, taken as a
whole, pleases by the charm of its general effect, possessing the fine
merit of a satisfying ensemble to most persons who look at it without
captiousness of spirit. It is much to say so; but we venture the asser-
tion that Mr. Goddard's guests have felt so scores of times.
DR. HAVEN'S HOUSE.
The visitor at Dr. Haven's house, corner of Commonwealth Avenue
and Exeter Street, Boston, enters a hall that leads by one door into the
doctor's office, and by another into his private reception-room, the two
apartments adjoining each other. The walls of the office are golden,
the ceiling is a neutral monochrome, and the furniture chiefly of ma-
hogany. A well-filled professional library, in French, German, English,
and other languages, occupies one side of the room ; and the chief
pictorial attractions are two oil-paintings by Elihu Vedder. Indeed, Oil-paint-
ings hy
this artist seems to be a favorite here, for a third most important work Fedder.
of his hangs in honor on an upper floor. " Vedder 's creations," said
the present writer on another occasion, " have for the most part a
moral rather than a merely poetic significance. They hold close rela-
tions with the human conscience. With so roseate a mythology as
Diaz expounded they have no affinity whatever; they concern themselves
with the reign of everlasting law and retributive justice. An accom-
plished technician Vedder certainly is; but, were he a Meissonier with
his pencil, he could never content himself with Meissonier 's limited
literary range. He deals in the highest and most vital moral ideas; he
is not only a persistent narrator and expounder of literary matter, but
a persistent narrator and expounder of the most mysterious and tre-
mendous moral truths. He prefers mystery of thought to mystery of
handling. ' I can't look at these people talking as mere technique,
mere rags, mere souls without a history,' he said once, ' I can't do it.
It is impossible. For instance, the other day I saw a man driving
sluggishly along the streets, on the way to an armory, a cart, to the
tail
^3^ Artistic Houses.
tail of which was attached a field-piece — a twenty-four-pounder. No-
body stopped to look at it. Good heavens ! it represented all the
difference between America at peace and Europe in the clutches of the
Nihilists. I can't help seeing the whole state of society in a thing
like that.' Need it be added that, with such views, Vedder feels
keenly the limitations of the painter's art; or that, at times, he is
Urue worth much more inclined to use a pen than a brush ? Yet the true worth
of art. ^
of a work of art is conditioned by the worth of the man that made
it; and it would be impossible for a painter, with convictions so serious
and intense, to lose the manifested power of them when putting pig-
ments upon canvas." The examples of Vedder in Dr. Haven's collection
fully illustrate this point. One of them is founded upon that poem of
Aldrich's :
" Somewhere in desolate, wind-swept space.
In Twilight-land, in No-man's-land,
Two hungry shapes met face to face.
And bade each other stand.
" ' And who are you ? ' cried one, agape,
Shuddering in the gloaming light;
* I know not,' said the other shape,
' I only died last night.' "
And the expression of unutterable bewilderment on his face is such as
a master alone could have rendered. Another painting, entitled "In
Memoriam," shows a characteristically sturdy — we might almost say
brawny — woman standing in a wilderness, beside a fluted column which
supports a boar's skull, and on which is the inscription —
" Ceu flos unus superstes
Inter mortuos jam socios vigens.
Sic et in corde desolato
Vivit adhuc nomen illud,"
the local color everywhere sacrificed to tone, and the pictorial effect
of very much less moment than the grandeur of the literary idea.
The
Dr. Haven's House. 137
The hall of Dr. Haven's house is in light wood, and above the
fire-opening a finely-carved panel appears. Carved griffins are seen on
newel-post and mantel-pillar. A notable feature is the facility with Notable
which the hall, the dining-room, the drawing-room, and the music-
room can be thrown together, so as to produce the effect of a single
large apartment. The dining-room is handsomely finished in cherry;
and the sideboard, with its three arches supported by clustered pillars
and beautifully carved, is a part of the wall-treatment of an entire side
of the room. The table and chairs are old, and of carved oak.
In the drawing-room one meets with a third painting by Vedder,
a circle of saints in the clouds looking down upon the starlit manger
in Bethlehem, where Christ was born, the design illustrating the verse,
" Prophets and priests desired him long," and the clouds being so
treated that they seem to consist of an innumerable array of angels'
wings. Another very interesting picture, entitled "Music," is a speci-
men of collaboration, on the part of Van Balen and Breughel, of the
seventeenth century. Dr. Haven's house is furnished throughout with
rare good taste, and possesses artistic attractions of the kind that con-
noisseurs appreciate.
MR. JOSEPH H. WHITE'S HOUSE.
While approaching Mr. Joseph H. White's residence, at Brookline,
Massachusetts, the visitor's attention is concerned, first of all, with the
spaciousness and elegance of the undulating grounds that lead up to the
noble terrace on which the house is built ; and, if, after entering the
building, he takes his position on the piazza at the end of the hall, Prospect
the view, on a fair day, will prove enchanting. He finds himself about piazza.
sixty feet above the pleasant highway along which he came. Directly
in front of him, and across that highway and the long, grassy slopes, is
a reservoir that looks like a lake. From a thick-set group of oaks and
chestnuts beyond it rises a church-spire; and among the nearer trees, all
of which are on the premises, he recognizes some noble pines and elms
that must have held their stately beauty at least a hundred years. The
golden dome of the State-House, in Boston, glistens conspicuously at a
distance of four miles, across an intervening valley with trees and far-
ofF houses. There is a unique view of this fine panorama from a small
oval window in the dining-room.
We step back from the piazza into the hall : its vestibule wainscoted The hall.
in white-oak, and provided with oaken doors; its dimensions not less
than forty-five feet in length and twenty-five in breadth. Standing
with our back against the piazza-door, through which we have just come
in, we see a wide oaken stairway, of easy ascent, and at its right an
entrance into the billiard-room. Still nearer, at the right, a double-door,
with portidres of blue plush, faced with velvet, opens into the dining-
room. On the left, directly opposite, a similar door leads into the
library, and a single door into the parlor; while still nearer is a wide
fire-place.
^4o Artistic Houses.
fire-place, surmounted by a large oil-painting of "Miranda on the
Coast," a full-length figure in gray costume. Nearer still, in the left-
hand corner of the hall, and also in the right-hand corner, is a pair
of immense porcelain vases, of great beauty. A three-quarter ideal
figure of a gorgeously-dressed and bespangled Greek girl, by Lecomte,
has much warm coloring. The walls are wainscoted to a height of five
feet, and then tinted in Indian-red, which, together with tints of gold,
brown, and gray, appear again in the panels of the heavily-beamed
Hall fur- ceiling. Most of the furniture consists of easy-chairs, covered with
morocco, or with antique tapestries, very soft, by reason of the fineness
of their textures. There is a large center-table, eight feet long by five
feet wide, on which, in addition to a variety of choice books, appear
vases filled with fuchsias, English primroses, and umbrella-ferns; but,
of all the flowers that bloom within this charming home — and you find
them at almost every turn — the lily is the favorite.
We go into the dining-room next. Here a leather-paper of old
gold covers the spaces above a darkened wainscot of oak, and a ceiling
of old gold shows a variety of geometrical designs. Very superb is the
Dining' fifteen-feet-wide mantel, behind an arch whose spandrels are exquisitely
room man- ^ j. /
tei carved, and whose surface underneath is of gold, adorned with effects
of precious stones. Three water-color figure-pieces are by Tissot, and
two family portraits by Hubert Herkomer. The oaken sideboard, unob-
trusive yet elaborate, has five arched panels. An immense India rug
almost covers the hard-wood floor. Embroideries, woven in France,
after antique designs, adorn some of the chairs, while the rest are up-
holstered in leather. The four juxtaposed windows on the south side
are a noteworthy feature of this chamber of festivity, where the large
sticks of hickory-wood, that lie upon the French andirons of hammered
iron, are not needed to foster a sense of genial hospitality.
Oil-paint- Mr. White's fine collection of oil-paintings is found chiefly in the
library and the drawing-room. He has the distinction of owning,
perhaps, the noblest landscape ever painted by George Inness — another
method of saying the noblest landscape ever painted by an American
artist.
Mr. yoseph H. White's House. 141
artist. It is a view of St. Peter's, with the Vatican and its gardens,
at sunrise, a rainbow shining beyond the dome. Then he has a figure-
piece by George Fuller — " Lorette," a Canadian peasant-girl — enveloped Pamtmg
in those misty and mysterious golden tones which this painter has Fuller.
taught us both to expect and to respect. To say that these two
American paintings manfully hold their own beside the examples of
Merle, Diaz, Tissot, Lambinet, E. Frere, and Robie, is to speak the
unvarnished truth.
On leaving this commodious and delightful house, the visitor is
attracted again by the great width and swing of the grassy slopes and
cultivated gardens that surround it, and by the magnificence, splendor,
and variety of the distant views.
MR. W. S. HOYT'S HOUSE.
One of the boldest and most striking interior effects in this collec-
tion is that of Mr. W. S. Hoyt, at Twin Islands, Pelham, New York.
These islands, it will be remembered, are situated in Long Island Sound,
a little south of Glen Island near New Rochelle. When one gets
there on a summer's day the scene is beautiful in the extreme along
the gently-breaking surf and the shimmering ripples of the Sound, whose
waters, directly in front of the house, are eighteen feet deep, affording
fine facilities for the largest-size vessel that is likely to seek moorings
in the neighborhood.
Of no special style is the building, save that which describes the
owner's taste, he having been able to dispense with the services of
architects, and to build precisely as suited him. The first story is of
stone, gathered for the most part near by; and the two upper stories
are shingled. As the visitor enters the hall he finds himself in a place Remark-
able hall.
altogether different from what he has seen elsewhere; in fact, we
believe that the habitable world would be searched in vain to find a
retreat which bears the faintest resemblance to this. It is L-shaped,
the longer arm fifty feet in length by fifteen feet in width, and at its
extreme end appears an Oriental divan, strewed and canopied with stuffs
of varied soft and bright hues, so arranged as to tempt the most wake-
ful and the least tired. The low ceiling is heavily beamed with Cali-
fornia redwood, with which also the wall-spaces are paneled. The
shorter arm of the L, seen in our illustration, shows the wide mantel
of red brick, with its opening so deep that comfortable seats for half
a dozen or more persons are permitted on either side of the fire. The
andirons
144- Artistic Houses.
andirons were made after Mr. Hoyt's own designs, by the village
Unique blacksmith; and the back of the fire-place is a sheet of casting, on
mantel and ^
fire-place, which appear two standing figures in relief. Above the narrow mantel-
shelf of brick is a moose's head, of wondrous proportions and success-
fully preserved, flanked by relics of Indian equipment for war or chase.
An old bellows at the left is decorated with Venetian carving. Hal-
berds of various patterns, a two-handed sword, arquebuses, a man in
armor in a niche, cross-bows, mail shirts, battle-axes of barbarous
nations, an old Italian gun-stock, a fifteenth-century spinning-wheel,
and furniture without upholstery, gathered from many an old palace,
are noticeable against the wall, on the floor, or about the mantel. So
Jms and curious, multiform, and interesting a collection of arms and armor is
armor.
rarely seen outside a museum, and these specimens have all of them the
additional interest of souvenirs of foreign travel on the part of host and
hostess. The arrangement of the armor and coats-of-mail on the right
wall is seen in the illustration, and also the pieces of antique tapestry
which succeed one another till the divan is reached, fifty feet, away,
where glorious glimpses of the Sound are inexhaustible. The principal
part of the back of this divan is Chinese embroidery on a white-silk
ground; two or three pieces of the same stuff", pinned loosely together
to form the canopy, are caught up in full festoons at a point whence
a small lamp hangs by a chain of old iron.
Adjoining this singular and fascinating hall, and on a level a foot
lower, is the drawing-room, finished in yellow pine; and opposite the
drawing-room, on the other side of the hall, is the dining-room, with
a huge mantel of blue enameled brick, and walls paneled to the beamed
Ceiling of ceiling in California redwood. Quite unique in effect is the sitting-
room, whose ceiling has been laid with strips of matting in irregular
panels, and whose wainscoting shows similar treatment. The shop on
the third floor would delight an amateur carpenter or blacksmith, with
its forge, bench, and complete sets of tools.
Mr. Hoyt's house is a self-reliant expression of individual taste, that
stamps itself indelibly on the memory.
MR. JOSEPH S. DECKER'S HOUSE.
At No. i8 West Forty-ninth Street stands Mr. Joseph S. Decker's
finely-decorated house, where some of the best-known artists of this
country have left the marks of their skill. You enter the main hall
through a vestibule of oak, in whose massive doors and large transom
Mr. John Lafarge's stained glass produces — especially at night, when the Stained
glass in the
lights are burning behind it — an extremely beautiful and tender play of ^^//.
highly-vitalized color, the pearly, opalescent, and ruby hues being par-
ticularly lustrous. Their winning radiance is echoed in some of the
tints of the screen in front of the staircase. Another screen of oaken
spindle- work divides the staircase from the middle hall^ and the finish-
ing of both halls is in oak throughout.
The first room to the left after entering the house is the parlor,
which Messrs. Cottier and Company have converted into a place of
princely but peaceful splendor. Silk damask of an exquisite rose-pink
covers the walls from frieze to wainscot, and the ceiling is painted in
bronze, over a modified plaster or " composition " surface, in which the
deeper traces of the brush-work are abundant. Of similar substance
and tint is the frieze itself. A costly Renaissance mirror hangs above
the mantel-piece; and as for the furniture it is costliness itself, espe-
cially the very striking mahogany cabinet, with its profusion of hand-
painted panels, and the carved rose-wood sofa, the like whereof in Elaborate-
decoration, shape, and solidity, one might go many blocks to find, sofa.
The least careful observer will scarcely fail to notice the artistic success
of these hand-painted panels, particularly the ones that bear representa-
tions of female figures, each of which is good enough to be admitted
into
146
Artistic Houses.
into an annual pictorial exhibition, and important enough to attract
attention in the midst of much more important surroundings. These
pieces and their fellows were made in this city by the Messrs. Cottier;
and there is scarcely another piece of furniture in the room that does
not stand as an exponent of what is sterling and choice in the joiner's
art. The hangings of tapestry, and the portieres of appliqu^ work on
plush, are felicitous in color and fine in workmanship; and the same
is to be said of all the hangings and portieres throughout the principal
floors.
The visitor passes from this sumptuously-furnished parlor through
the middle hall, with its spacious fire-place, its delightful Venetian
"^he din- lanterns of bronze, and its sense of hospitableness, into the dining-room,
ing-room.
where the wood-work is of mahogany — mahogany in the heavily-beamed
and paneled ceiling, mahogany in the elaborate wainscot, mahogany in
the magnificent and lofty mantel. Of mahogany, too, are the chairs,
covered with stamped and illuminated leather, and the handsome side-
board and table. Tapestry, in which the dark-blue tints prevail, lines
the wall-spaces, which are further decorated by a series of bright and
interesting water-color drawings. This dining-room is a place for a
man of taste to refresh himself in.
On ascending to the second story one notices the pictures in black-
and-white that thickly stud the walls, and, after going through the
rooms, the ease and comfort of their arrangement, not less than of
their ensembles. To the host's bedroom are attached two elaborately-
furnished dressing-rooms, which can be separated by sliding-doors ; the
bath-room is lined to the ceiling with encaustic tiles, in the interest
both of health and beauty, and all the appurtenances are of the latest
and most approved design.
Library. In front, directly over the parlor, is Mr. Decker's library, the width
of which has been much increased by an alcove that occupies the space
devoted in some houses to the hall bedroom. Here the walls and
ceiling are covered with stamped flock-paper, of varied conventionalism
of design, and of tints ranging from olive-green through bronze to gold,
producing
Mr. yoseph S. Decker's House. 1^7
producing an effect at once subdued and rich, which is repeated by the
tints and textures of the hangings and portieres, A large bronze chan-
delier depends over the center-table; and the furniture is chiefly of
mahogany, upholstered in low tones, in harmony with the prevailing
environment. Several beautiful etchings, notably a figure-piece by Etchings.
Tissot, and " The Angelus," after Millet, are among the pictorial treas-
ures of this artistic and inviting retreat.
MR. JOHN WOLFE'S HOUSE.
Mr. John Wolfe's handsome house, at No. 8 East Sixty-eighth
Street, near the Central Park, which its bay-windows overlook, and
from which the spring breezes blow directly into the front windows,
has been celebrated for a noble collection of oil-paintings. These,
however, were recently sold by the owner, in order, it is believed, to
make room for an even finer array of similar treasures, Mr. Wolfe
having special facilities therefor, in his knowledge of artists and art-
dealers at home and abroad. The representative of his house in this
portfolio is the dining-room, which Mr. D. Lienau, the well-known 'The din-
ing-Toom.
architect of New York City, has taken special pains to make beautiful
and luxurious. The style, as the illustration shows, is the Italian
Renaissance, though no servility characterizes the artist's adherence to
it. Rising almost to the full height of the lofty ceiling, the pilasters,
richly carved at the bases and fluted above them, rest upon the deeply-
paneled wainscoting. The wall-spaces are occupied by examples of the
modern French school of landscape and figure painters, not framed and
hung, as usually is the case, but so let into the surrounding wood-work Paintings
framed in
as to make the latter seem built for the purpose, and quite felicitously theu-ood-
work,
so. Thus, too, with the Greeks and Romans, painting was decorative
in its functions, going hand in hand with its sister art of architecture,
and, indeed, existing for its sake. Thus, too, in the middle ages, it
identified itself with a special structure or a special occasion, not living
a life of selfishness, but modestly serving as opportunity offered. In
fact, it may be said to have been a good Christian, doing unto the
other arts as it would have them do to itj nor did the other arts dis-
dain
ISO
Artistic Houses.
Wine-
^astersT
Paneled
ceiling.
dain to return the courtesy. It is interesting, also, to note that the
pictorial art of Japan, so potent in these days, was at first employed
for the interior decoration of palaces, being considered out of place
unless — like the terrace in modern landscape-gardening — it was treated
so as to become a part of the building itself.
As Mr. Wolfe's beautifully-carved ^tagere is built into the wood-
work of the wainscoting, and is properly a development of it, so has
his fine oil-portrait of the German painter Hasenclever been built into
the upper part of the ita^re. Here one sees him standing life-size,
and holding high in his uplifted right hand a wine-glass full of the
ruby fluid he has so often depicted so well, while in front of him, on
an easel, rests the picture, " The Wine-Tasters," that has made him
famous in his own land and in ours. The subject has a certain appro-
priateness to the place, and the congruity is by no means lessened by
the fact that the portrait is a gift from the author to the host.
There are other pictures in this handsome dining-room, but we pass
them to notice the ceiling, which has been laid out in panels or casettes
of black walnut — the material in which the entire room is finished —
beautifully carved, and with deep recesses. Neither paint, canvas, nor
plaster appears anywhere on the surface of this ceiling, the wood having
an oil-finish. The mantel, a highly decorative and dignified piece of
work which centers the attractiveness of the room, has a carved shelf
about six feet long, surmounted by two ornamental columns that work
in with the design of the ceiling, and resting upon two massive lions,
carved out of solid walnut. The buffet, also of walnut, and built in
like the etaghe^ has a heavy slab of marble, and above it a shelf sup-
ported by carved brackets. The floor is of hard wood, covered by
Eastern rugs. The furniture is of carved walnut and embossed leather.
The elegant chandelier was imported by Mr. Wolfe from Paris.
We may speak also of Mr. Lienau's two handsome ceilings in the
music-room, between the dining-room and the front parlor, and in the
front parlor itself Each is a faithful and highly-pleasing example of
Louis Seize work in papier-mache^ gold, and colors.
MR. JOHN TAYLOR JOHNSTON'S HOUSE.
mirror.
Mr. John Taylor Johnston's white-marble house, No. 8 Fifth
Avenue, is represented in this collection by his drawing-room, which
Messrs. Louis C. Tiffany and Company recently decorated. The gen-
eral tone is salmon, reds, yellows, and browns, and the principal features
are the transom of the double door and the mantel-piece.
The mantel-mirror — a French bevel plate — has a frame of opalescent Mantel-
glass and lead-work, which serve, in turn, as frames for smaller mirrors;
and the mantel-front divides into panels of East-Indian teak-wood,
delicately carved, with a facing of Sienna and colored-glass tiles. The
wall-spaces are painted, and the ceiling is novelly treated, the paint
being laid on with a palette-knife, to give an effect of low relief
The stained-glass transom of the double door shows a graceful floral
design, supported by a strip of open, carved lattice-work, with bits of
colored glass inserted — an effect similar to that of the Moorish lattices,
though the insertion of the bits of colored glass is believed to be a
device entirely new. The portibres are plush.
Mr. Johnston's house acquired a national celebrity, a few years ago,
as the abode of his celebrated collection of oil-paintings, which, when
sold, returned him more than three hundred thousand dollars. It was
an occasion of congratulation that the picture which obtained the
highest price was an American work — Mr. Frederick E. Church's
" Niagara," now in the Corcoran Gallery at Washington, which was
knocked down at twelve thousand five hundred dollars. It was gener-
ally understood that Mr. Johnston's generous patronage of the fine arts
turned out to have been justified on financial considerations.
DR. WILLIAM T. LUSK'S HOUSE.
We give an illustration of the dining-room of Dr. William T. Thedin-
Lusk's house, No. 47 East Thirty-fourth Street, which has some inter-
esting artistic features, characterized by great simplicity. The wood-
work throughout is of stained pine, and the wainscoting, four feet
high, shows panels with relief ornamentation. Japanese paper covers the
walls and ceiling, and the frieze is in painted bronzes. The height of
the windows has been reduced by large transoms of stained glass, divided
into squares, of light amber tones. The once upright mirror of the
mantel has been laid horizontally, and near the tiled fire-front stands
a wood-box, as ornamental as useful. Opposite is the buffet, which
balances the mantel, and close by, a small door to the butler's pantry,
with a transom of opalescent glass, whose circular forms suggest plates
and other pieces of the dining-table service. On the left of this door
a small alcove or arch receives the water-pitcher, and has a curtain in
front and a locker underneath. The panels of the buffet are of wood,
ornamented with metal.
Dr. Lusk's parlor, also the work of Messrs. Louis C. Tiffany and
Company, is mainly a study of delicate and charming tones. The
artistic feeling of these rooms is intense but unobtrusive.
MR. GILBERT R. PAYSON'S HOUSE.
The principal feature of Mr. Gilbert R. Payson's mansion, at
Watertown, Massachusetts, is perhaps the noble and ample effect pro-
duced by showing only one flight of stairs in the main hall, thus leaving
the hall open to the roof Even the mantel, on whose face appears Height of
an electric indicator for the wind, runs up into the second story, and
there is a gallery entirely across, from mantel on the left to staircase
on the right.
All the wood-work is of ash, which the architect has caused to be
stained slightly, just enough to bring out the beautiful grain. Two
doors at the left open, the one into the billiard-room, the other into
the rear hall j two doors in front lead into the dining-room and the
drawing-room; while at the right, underneath the staircase, we enter
the library, after passing a noble standing clock at least two hundred
years old. A brass chandelier, copied from an antique Venetian speci- Fenetian
men, hangs from the lofty beamed and paneled ceiling. It is lighted ^
by electricity, and there are electric knobs in all the rooms. The chief
furniture is a clothes-chest of carved ash, and a pair of curiously-carved
oaken chairs, which long ago belonged to a Tory ancestor of the family.
Very charming is the triple-arch effect of the mantel, with its square
carved columns. Eastern rugs partly conceal the floor, and the portieres
are of old red and green, of Morris's designs. The visitor does not
fail to notice the unique effect of the screen-treatment of the stairway,
by which the upper flight of stairs is supported and at the same time
concealed.
The drawing-room of Mr. Payson's house opens into a wide and
long
^'i
156 Artistic Houses.
long piazza, which extends beyond the building and affords views, not
only of the Waltham hills and the village of Watertown, but also of
the hills of Milton. No description of this home, indeed, would be
adequate, that failed to pay particular heed to the variety and practi-
cal boundlessness of the rolling landscape by which it is surrounded.
Prospects. In the southwest one sees Watertown and the distant Newtons; in
the east, the State-House, Cambridge, and Memorial Hall, and even
Charlestown and Summerville; in the northeast the heights of Medford
and Arlington; in the west, Waltham and the Waltham hills; in the
southwest the Milton hills, fifteen miles away. The approach to this
elevated and commanding site, on which Mr. Payson's house is built,
has the singular beauty of mile after mile of old stone-wall fences, about
which the wild ivy has so entwined itself that in some places you see
only a mound of green. In speaking of a walk between Leamington
Fences in and Stratford-ou-Avon, Hawthorne said that " the ugliest stone fence,
England. ...
such as, in America, would keep itself bare and unsympathizing till the
end of time, is sure to be covered with the small handiwork of Nature;
that careful mother lets nothing go naked there, and, if she can not
provide clothing, gives at least embroidery. No sooner is the fence
built than she adopts and adorns it as a part of her original plan,
treating the hard, uncomely construction as if it had all along been a
favorite idea of her own. A little sprig of ivy may be seen creeping
up the side of the low wall and clinging fast with its many feet to
the rough surface; a tuft of grass roots itself between two of the stones,
where a pinch or two of wayside dust has been moistened into nutritious
soil for it; a small bunch of fern grows in another crevice; a deep,
soft, verdant moss spreads itself along the top and over all the available
inequalities of the fence; and, where nothing else will grow, lichens
stick tenaciously to the bare stones and variegate the monotonous gray
with hues of yellow and red." Mr. Hawthorne could never have
walked the winding road between Belmont and Mr. Payson's house of
a fine May morning, or he would have had more respect for the vege-
tative possibilities of a New England stone fence.
To
Mr. Gilbert R. Pay son's House. 157
To return, however, from this digression, we notice in Mr. Payson's
drawing-room the pleasant effect of the recess, say six feet deep and
eighteen feet long, partly hid by portikres. The dining-room, finished "^ he din-
ing-room.
in stained ash, shows on one side a coved frieze that meets the top of
the handsome sideboard, and on another side the top of the four-arched
and carved-columned mantel, whose fire-opening is lined with glazed
tiles of a brownish-yellow hue. The ceiling is heavily beamed in ash,
while a paper of a dark-green tone, beneath a flowered frieze of gold,
covers most of the wall-spaces. On each side of the arched niche of
the sideboard is a cabinet for china, and below, a series of convenient
cupboards.
The walls of the library are an Indian-red monochrome, and the ^he libra-
ry.
portieres a warmer red. The mantel has a terra-cotta lining for its
fire-opening, and an oblong, beveled mirror ; and in the center of the
room stands an octagonal table, laden with costly art-books and the
current periodicals. All the book-cases are of ash.
MR. W. S. KIMBALL'S HOUSE.
Mr. W. S. Kimball's house, in Rochester, New York, is known to
the decorators and architects of New York City as one of the finest
private residences of the interior of the State. Its general style is
colonial, freely adapted, the first story being of stone, and the second
of stucco, with strips of wood. The entrance is beneath a porte-cochhe
of pleasing proportions ; and a feature of the hall is a large Moorish Moorish
screen which crosses its entire width and shuts oiF the staircase and the
organ-loft. But most conspicuous is the novel and beautiful effect
produced by screen, staircase, and organ, when the spectator looks
through the screen, and then through the balusters of the stairs, and
next through the openings between the organ-pipes into the darkness
beyond, receiving an impression of great distance and of mystery.
Messrs. Louis C. Tiffany and Company, to whom was intrusted the
decoration of Mr. Kimball's house, have here accomplished an extremely
interesting result in perspective and in color. The hall seems to have
become more than twice its actual depth under the skillful treatment
of those artists; the screen invites speculation as to what is beyond it,
and the organ is so constructed as not to discontinue surmises. This Grand or-
organ, which stands on the landing of the first flight of stairs, is large,
and has an elaborate front of oak; the pipes have a damascene orna-
mentation, and on either side of the key-board are large mosaic panels
of glass, partly open, which almost conceal the smaller reeds. Above
the organ is a screen of open-work and glass, and it is while looking
through this screen that the spectator obtains the consummation of the
artistic purpose. The immense mantel of Sienna marble and oak is
another
i6o Artistic Houses.
another important attraction of the hall ; and there are a very high
wainscoting and an oaken ceiling.
Fenetian In the library is a remarkable mantel of mahogany, in Venetian
mantel.
Style, surmounted by a large carved frame- work, laid out in a pattern
of squares within a stone arch, and lighted by a stained-glass window
on each side. All around the fire-place is a solid facing of glass tiles.
The ceiling, the wainscoting and the book-cases are of mahogany. In
the dining-room mahogany appears again ; and one notices particularly
the deep frieze of leather, ornamented with elaborate patterns in nails.
A characteristic Tiffany-room is the parlor, long and almost a
double square, with its large and deep bay-window overlooking a con-
servatory. As the spectator stands in this window and looks into the
conservatory, his eyes rest upon a distant window which has been
decorated with small and brilliant jewels, set at intervals in the clear
glass, and seeming like little flowers that differ from the natural flowers
around them only in the brightness of their luster. Nobody would
mistake the artificial flowers for natural flowers, nor, in nine cases out
of ten, would suppose that the artist had meant to represent flowers at
all, but was working only for effects of color.
Glass tUes. At the end of the parlor a large mantel-piece of glass tiles, with
a window at either side, attracts notice on its own behalf, and also
because the right-hand window is high and has a seat below it, while
the left-hand window is low. Both the glass of the windows and of
the mantel is disposed in a fashion to give great brilliancy and variety
of effect to that part of the room. Each window has an effect of its
own, and so has the mantel, with its massive mirror; but the com-
bined effect is as homogeneous as it is impressive.
All the wood-work of Mr. Kimball's parlor is of white mahogany.
The furniture is covered with dark-blue plush, and ornamented with
copper hinges, disks, and nails. Four chandeliers or lanterns, hanging
near the four corners of the parlor, are of a dull-green glass, and
throw the light upward against the ceiling. The floor is very hand-
some — oak, inlaid with white mahogany.
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S HOUSE.
A PRIVATE residence in New York that has attracted much attention
of late is that of Mr. Henry Villard, at Madison Avenue and Fiftieth
Street. It is the newest of the series of magnificent houses, and has
acquired celebrity both because of the fame of its owner and its intrinsic
merit. To artists and connoisseurs Mr. Villard's house presents at least
two general features of unusual significance. With all its mag-nitude General
.... . . features.
and costliness — its size is perhaps unequaled by that of any other similar
edifice in the city, and its cost is believed to have been in the neigh-
borhood of three quarters of a million of dollars — it has preserved a
chaste simplicity, both externally and internally, and a profound loyalty
to what is delicate and self-repressive. No attempt at ostentation
appears in any part of the architectural outline or the decorative
scheme. Not only good taste prevails, but good taste as understood by
persons of refinement and education and experience. Had the problem
been to spend three quarters of a million in constructing a private
house without producing in the spectator a sense of show, the result
might justly be considered a successful solution.
Some conception of the extent of Mr. Villard's house may be ^^tentof
the house.
obtained by remembering that on the first floor there are three large
parlors, a large hall, a large music-room, a large breakfast-room, a large
dining-room, and a variety of pantries and closets; on the second floor,
three bedrooms, a library, a boudoir, and three bath-rooms ; on the
third floor, five bedrooms, a boudoir, and four bath-rooms ; on the
fourth floor, twelve bedrooms and three bath-rooms; on the fifth floor,
at least another dozen bedrooms and an immense tank-room; and on
the
i62 Artistic Houses.
the basement floor, a kitchen, a laundry, a servants' dining-room, a
wine-room, a billiard-room, a boiler-room, with three large boilers, one
of them a high-pressure machine, for use in pumping water into the
tanks and in running the elevator. It takes a ton of coal a day to
heat Mr. Villard's house.
Faulted You enter the long, wide, and many-vaulted hall, whose ceiling
and floor are of mosaic, in varied patterns, and whose lofty walls are
exclusively of Mexican marble, inlaid with marble of other hues; whose
spacious fire-opening contains immense andirons of bronze of compli-
cated design, and whose mantel-piece shows, in bold relief, a majestic
woman with two children, entitled " Pax." At the eastern end is the
music-room, with ceiling, say, thirty feet high; and, at the western
end, the reception-room, on Madison Avenue, flanked by the north
drawing-room and the south drawing-room. The paneling of the
music-room, to the height of about ten feet, is of white-wood, carved
with conventional designs of delicacy and appropriateness, and painted
a creamy white. Above the balcony for musicians, at the north end,
are several groups of nearly life-size figures in plaster, by St. Gaudens ;
and the intention is to import from Europe a movable painted ceiling,
which can be lowered or raised to meet the acoustic requirements of a
musical festivity.
Carved oak You pass from this room directly south into the dining-room,
^room.^^^' where the furniture and all the wood-work are of black English oak,
profusely carved in low-relief Not a space of three square inches of
paneling or beams has been left untouched by the carver's tool; yet so
delicately has it worked that no visitor would say, in the slang of the
studios, that the effect is "stunning." The more you study it, the
more you find in it; but the general and immediate impression is one
of extreme simplicity. Dexterously inlaid in the wall-spaces and frieze
are mottoes in German and Latin, in white mahogany. For instance,
over the mantel-piece : " Gott sendet beide Mund und Fleisch " (God
gives both mouth and meat); and over the entrance into the music-
room: "Alt Freund, alt Wein, alt Geld, fiihren den Preis in aller
Welt"
Mr. Henry Villard's House. 163
Welt" (old friend, old wine, and old gold, fetch their price anywhere).
The mantel-piece itself is of Numidian marble, with three life-size
busts, typifying Moderatio, Hospitalitas, Gaudium. The panels of the
ceiling contain mythological heads, painted by Francis Lathrop.
The same profuseness and delicacy of carving characterize the
adjoining breakfast-room, every square inch, almost, showing traces of Breakfast-
the burin, while the legends inlaid in the black English oak of the
walls are just as plentiful and appropriate. We reproduce these legends.
Over the door to the butler's pantry : " Aller Dinge soil mann mild
seyn, nur der Zeit nicht." Balancing it, at right of mantel : " Thu
wohl, sieh nicht wem, das ist Gott angenehm." Next, on north frieze:
" Faulheit ist der Schllissel zur Armuth." Next: "Was Jeder sucht,
das findet er." Opposite, on the south frieze : " Das Gliick hilft den
Kiihnen." Next : " Gut Gewissen, ein sanftes Kissen."
Below the frieze, on a line above the panels, and extending all
around the room, are the words : " Non est imperandum cito enim
exhauri. Illos nunquam intermissia fecunditas ita ammorum impetus
adsiduus labor francit. Dona praesentis cape letus horae, ca linque
severa. Dande est remissio animis ; meliores acrioresovi reovieti urgent."
The reception-room and the two drawing-rooms are of red-stained Reception-
room and
cherry, with choice designs inlaid in white mahogany, satin-wood, holly, draiiing-
and pearl, the multitude of which again is most notable. The wall-
spaces of the drawing-rooms are hung with terra-cotta silk, embroidered
profusely in orange-yellow, and the furniture is covered with the same
material, while in the reception-room it is of dark cream, embroidered
in terra-cotta.^ to correspond with the hangings. The fire-openings are
lined with Mexican onyx, and the ceiling is of plaster-of-Paris designs
in low-relief
The Hbrary, on the second floor, is of stained cherry, abundantly
carved; and Mr. Villard's bedroom, on the fourth floor (easily reached
by the elevator), of mahogany. The other bedrooms are of painted
woods, and decorated with extreme simplicity and beauty. The archi-
tects of Mr. Villard's house are Messrs. McKim, Mead, and White.
rooms.
THE REV. PHILLIPS BROOKS'S LIBRARY.
The library of the Rev. Phillips Brooks, in the rectory of Trinity
Church, Boston, is notable architecturally on account of its altogether
unique mantel-piece. In other respects the room is simply a comfort-
able and cheerful study, surrounded by well-laden book-shelves, and
provided with easy-chairs, writing-desks, and a multitude of pictures
and bric-h-brac^ the latter being of choice quality or interesting from
their associations. But the whole scheme and every detail of the
mantel-piece are so pleasing that we have photographed it at the ^mue
expense of its surroundings. To Boston architects this work of art is piece.
very well known, and among them it is generally agreed that Mr. H.
H. Richardson, who designed it, did a charming piece of work. The
foundations are of brick to a height of about two and a half feet, and
the upper portion is of the same material, while between them are
massive slabs of Connecticut Valley brown-stone. A deep recess in the ^v
center contains a marine painting, and some statuettes and other articles
of vertu^ and on the broad shelf above them are a clock of rare work-
manship, a pair of candlesticks, and some porcelains. The artist has
produced his results with plain brick and plain stone ; there is no
carving at all. The financial outlay is of the most modest description,
yet the effect causes delight. Simplicity, solidity, magnitude, fitness,
are the traits most obvious, and these are enhanced by the wide and
deep recess in which the mantel-piece stands.
'.I
}
MR. HENRY S. HOVEY'S HOUSE.
The feature of Mr. Hovey's sitting-room, which we have chosen
as the representative of his charming country-seat at Gloucester, Mass.,
is the large window at the right of the mantel, overlooking some
beautiful grounds whose trees work their branches into delicate traceries
against the panes. It is really three windows, separated by muUions
only, and particularly from the center one the view seems illimitable
in our illustration. The reader will perceive that the photographer
here has accomplished the unusual feat of photographing directly into F^^fof
the light, instead of insisting upon having the light behind him, or at ph'-
his side. The sunshine streams in directly from the rear, and into the
very face of the spectator, yet is there not the slightest trace of
blurring. The leaves and branches are clear enough to serve as studies
from Nature. This window, we may explain, was covered with a
curtain while the picture was being taken, except during the last three
or four seconds, when the light was allowed to flow in and illumine
the scene. The room itself was perfectly pictured in the camera before
the curtain was withdrawn.
All the wood- work is of quartered oak, thoroughly seasoned. The
floor is of parquetry, partly covered by a rug. A fine old clock stands
in one corner, and the center-table shows some admirable carvings, as
does also the stone-work around the fire-opening. Small mirrors reflect
the light from the burners of the sconces, and the paneling is relieved
by flutings and a coved frieze. A very interesting part of the design
is the long window-seat.
MR. FRANK FURNESS'S SMOKING-ROOM.
Mr. Frank Furness, the Philadelphia architect, recently conceived
the scheme of building with his own hands, and in the simplest fashion
possible, a smoking-room in the rear of his house. No. 711 Locust
Street, in that city. He has spent parts of many summers in the
Rocky Mountains, whence he has returned every autumn with trophies
to make a Nimrod's mouth water, in the shape of bear-skins, buffalo- Souvenirs
' ^ ' of the
skins, deer-skins, wolf-skins, goat-skins, and skins of various smaller chase.
animals, together with horns, antlers, and heads of many sorts, and his
idea seems to have been to house these souvenirs of the chase as incon-
spicuously as possible. Accordingly, he erected a one-story structure of
cedar slabs, with a sloping roof of the same material, and a dado of
unbarked cedar saplings. He built a fire-place of gneiss, and a couple
of tables of thick cedar plank, supported on legs of the most primitive
description. He covered parts of the walls with steel engravings, intro-
duced some easy-chairs of unassuming workmanship, and then proceeded
to disport himself in color-effects by throwing his skins over them, or ^o^or-
by hanging them on a cross-beam in company with various bright-hued
stuffs. What Mr. Furness has really achieved, from a chromatic point
of view, can barely be surmised from our reproduction in black-and-
white, excellent though it is; but those who have seen the interior of
his cozy little sanctum will agree that, in felicity of arrangement, both
of lines and tones, it is artistic to a high degree, while its literary
interest — if we may so express ourselves — is absolutely unique.
i-n iiw-i j-L
MR. JOHN G. CHAPMAN'S HOUSE.
Throughout the West, Mr. John G. Chapman's house, in St. Louis,
is well known, and even at the East the story of its artistic treasures
is often told. Our readers are introduced in this volume to a view of
the commodious and excellently-lighted picture-gallery, which abounds
in beautiful paintings and other works of art. Almost the entire ceiling
is occupied by the sky-light, from the borders of which it recedes
downward in diagonal lines. The wainscoting is paneled about five
feet high, and between it and the frieze the pictures are hung against
suitably-colored wall-spaces, while from it, at intervals, project hand-
somely-designed cabinets, containing old porcelains and other choice bits
of color. Arched entrances appear at either side of the mantel-piece,
which, architecturally considered, is the most commanding feature of Main feat-
ure of the
the gallery, rising to the entire height of the walls, and projecting far gallery.
over the fire-opening, the scheme being a juxtaposition of small panels,
some of which contain elaborate carvings after conventional designs.
The andirons deserve especial mention for their handsome and odd
patterns. A large and beautiful Eastern rug conceals most of the
parquetry-floor.
VILLA BOSCOBEL
THE HOME OF MRS. WILLIAM B. OGDEN.
No city approaching New York in size has in its vicinity features
of natural scenery so picturesque and attractive. Abrupt elevations,
rounded and broken knolls, and rugged rocks rising on the borders of
broad areas of water, are among the characteristics of the landscape. To
provide for the future development of the city, so that these may retain
their proper place within its limits, obviously demands the exercise of
intelligent foresight. The most striking features of the surrounding SUesfor
scenery are to be found within, and immediately beyond, the northwestern ^^^^^ "^^^
'' ' ^ New Tork.
limits of the city. There can not be found elsewhere, in one continuous
range, so many beautiful country-seats as adorn the first thirty miles of
the easterly slope that confines the waters of the Hudson and what is
called the Harlem River. The latter is, strictly speaking, not a river,
but an estuary connecting the Hudson with the Sound. It has the
peculiarity of two tides, one of which arrives by the North River an
hour earlier than that by the way of the East River. The long line of
stately residences, which begins a little below where the tides meet,
illustrates social phenomena which are as characteristic as the natural
peculiarities that exist around them. These retreats are the products
of vast outlay, whose ebb and flow fairly represent the mutations in the
business affairs of the great commercial center of the continent.
The frequent changes in their ownership interfere with their devel-
opment on any previously-devised plan, if one ever existed, yet there may
now and then be found an example where a plan has been adhered to
in
174- Artistic Houses.
in the planting; and, as is the case with the few places that have
remained in one family for a long succession of years, they have taken
on an appearance of mature growth in the plantations that is not often
found except in older countries, under the steadying influence of more
settled proprietorships, where the architectural results of wealth have
been concentrated through a series of generations.
This maturity of arborescent growth lends an additional attractiveness
to the borders of the highways along the river, the coarse administration
. of which, by the public authorities, is not infrequently rendered conspic-
uous by the contrasts afforded in the more tasteful outlays of an occa-
sional private owner.
There is an elevated range of land that, taking its rise at the Harlem
River near the central bridge and skirting along its waters, forms the
east slope of the water-shed of Tibbets Brook and, farther on, of the
Site of the Neperhan River. On the combe of this ridge, just about a mile from its
Boscobei:' rise, and a short distance from the river, stands a mansion, the first of
any especial distinction, known as the " Villa Boscobei," a name signify-
ing "beautiful wood," thus designated from its Salopian prototype in
England, where, in an oak-tree, Charles, pursued by Cromwell's troopers,
was concealed after the sanguinary battle of Worcester, and also, perhaps,
from some fancied association with the name of its owner.
Occupied with the administration of his affairs, which had now be-
come very various and of great extent, Mr. William B. Ogden found it a
constantly increasing necessity to pass less of his time in the Western
city, with the growth of which he was so nearly associated, and more
at the East, where capital and commerce were rapidly centering. Casting
about for a fitting residence, he, more than twenty years since, in the
later years of his active life, selected these premises, then near the city,
for his future home. They were by no means as accessible as they
have since been rendered by improvements which he was largely instru-
Extentof mental in bringing about. The purchase was immediately supplemented
groun s. ^^ ^^^ acquisition of several tracts of adjacent lands, until, taken togeth-
er, his ownership comprised an extent of water-frontage of nearly half
a
ll
Villa Boscobeh the Home of Mrs. William B. Ogden. i75
a mile on the Harlem River, and included the easternmost terminus of
that massive structure which carries the city's water-supply from the
mainland to the bold blufFs of Manhattan Island. To the development
of these grounds, their planting and arrangement, Mr. Ogden devoted
such intervals as the care of his affairs would permit. As the area
within which they are situated was then under the authority of two
town governments. West Farms and Morrisania, neither much distin-
guished for efficiency, Mr. Ogden, with characteristic liberality, made
from his own resources considerable expenditures for the improvement of
the public highways of the vicinity.
The principal house was the scene, as well of the generous enter-
tainment of a wide circle of friends, as of many negotiations involving
enterprises destined to leave deep foot-prints in the progress of the
settlement of the western portion of the continent. In occupations such
as these its late proprietor passed the closing years of a long and pros-
pered career. The house and a large surrounding acreage are now the
property and residence of Mrs. Ogden.
Every architectural structure of any note has its own peculiar char- Anhitectu-
^ . ^ , . ral effects.
acter and power, resembling the expression of a countenance or the air
of a figure, and that of " Boscobel" is not lacking in this quality —
presenting the appearance of the quiet, spacious residence of a family
of substantiality and consideration. The dwelling, based upon the
pervading ledge of rock that at this point lies near the surface, was
constructed from the designs of Mr. Calvert Vaux, architect, of striated
gneiss, of a cool gray color, quarried at or near its site. The quoins
and other dressings are executed of olive-stone brought from the prov-
inces. The exterior wood-work corresponds with the tint of the olive-
stone, and, as the roof is covered with slate of deep blue, the whole
structure has an effect subdued and yet pleasantly varied. The chief Chief en-
entrance-front, remarkably attractive as an architectural elevation, of ovi^ front.
hundred and sixty feet in length, covered with the bright leafage of ever-
living ivy, and fittingly broken with porches, bays, and verandas, looks
toward the north upon a lesser lawn, which is embraced within the
circuit
176 Artistic Houses.
circuit of the main carriage-approach, and bordered by a belt, composed
chiefly of various evergreens of mature growth, by which the stables
and offices, as well as the premises of the adjoining owner, are effect-
ually excluded.
View from The Southerly front overlooks an even-surfaced lawn, of park-like
the souther-
ly front, dimensions, threaded by walks of finely-broken trap of a deep blue,
flanked on all sides and completely embayed by indigenous trees and
flowering shrubbery, and diversified by borders to which Flora has made
her choicest contributions. From the terrace, and through the arches of
the verandas — festooned with the purple-flowered wisteria, scarlet bigno-
nia, clematis, and variegated woodbine — and also from the upper rooms,
are seen, toward the west, the Harlem River, with its long line of
steep, verdurous banks, the favorite resort of the boating fraternity,
with all sorts of small craft shooting over its surface like water-skates;
the High Bridge, with its fifteen lofty arches of ponderous masonry,
affording between its protecting parapets a paved walk of more than a
quarter of a mile, the object of unending interest to myriads of visitors ;
and, on the precipitous cliffs across the river, the majestic water-tower,
rising sheer from the river's surface four hundred and five feet to the
top of the spire, higher by one hundred and twenty-seven feet than the
towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, and by one hundred and eight feet than
the steeple of Trinity Church. The more remote horizon-line is broken
by the outline of the clock-tower and the peaks and gables of the
Juvenile Asylum, as they lie against the western sky, and by the resi-
dences of Washington Heights, the most elevated portion of Manhattan
Island, seen here and there amid masses of foliage.
Eastern Toward the east is the lower terrace, bordered on the farther side
by old oaks and chestnuts, upon which stands the extensive line of
nearly six hundred feet of the well-furnished conservatories and green-
houses pertaining to the Villa. From the lookout on the roof may be
seen the waters of the Sound and the intermediate landscape. From
the south one catches the sound of many-tongued chimes, as they ring
out their music from the domes and spires of the great city.
The
nevo.
Villa Boscobel, the Home of Mrs. JVilliam B. Ogden. 177
The extent and attractiveness of the original plantations have been
much enhanced by liberal replenishment, and by the continuous, intelli-
gent care which has been bestowed upon them within the past few
years by their present proprietor, who has brought to her aid that rare
taste and good judgment which are the outgrowth of natural endow-
ments combined with a treasury of the memories of observations of
much travel.
Among the deciduous trees here soon discovered by the practiced Character
o J ^ . of trees ana
eye, enhancing the beauty of the lawn by their variety in color, size, Mi^s^-
and form of foliage, are the European linden, sweeping the turf with
its wide ambitus of dark, heavy-foliaged branches ; the weeping-ash ; the
purple beech ; the kolreutcria ; the Camperdown elm ; the Pawlownia
imperialism with its fragrant blue flowers, native of Japan, but named
to honor a Russian princess; the catalpa, with the fine pale-green of
its large leaves, and its beautifully-tinted blossoms, to which healing
powers are attributed, one variety of which is here unique; the Judas,
with its ante-leafing flowers of purplish hue, used in the gastronomic,
as is its bark in the dyer's art; the fan-leaved ginko; the Japan oaks
and maples; the weeping-elm, queen of American trees; the English
oak; the Rowan, with its scarlet berries —
" Of sovereign use
'Gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp,
Or ghastly furies' apparition " —
transplanted from the ^' land of brown heath and shaggy wood," the
home of the Arnots, Mrs. Ogden's paternal ancestry, which, while it
is the land of the benignant St. Andrew, yet the emblematic thistle,
rampant like its rugged strand, bristles perpetual defiance — ^^ Nemo me
impune laces sit''
Of the growth of evergreens are the Norway spruce; Austrian,
Weymouth, and Cembra pines; the silvery-needled Nordmaniana; the
yew; the cypress; the sentinel-like juniper; the low-matted squamata;
the peerless hemlock; and others in great variety, single, or in vigorous
and varied groups.
On
'7^ ' Artistic Houses.
On a knoll that rises from the lawn toward the west is a circular
summer-house, completely embowered by fragrant honeysuckle. Massed
on its slope, toward the east, down till it is lost in the level of the
greensward, backed with the dark leafage of cedars, junipers, yews,
and pines, is a broad plantation of J^hododendron Catawbiense^ of bright,
glossy foliage, and varied, maculated blossoms, brilliant in the season of
flowers, the most elegant and showy shrubs that grace the lawn. Con-
spicuous among the varieties are the Amarantinora^ Album elegans^
Biandianum^ and Everesiianum^ which, with the whole group, show
remarkably vigorous growth, left as they are unprotected through the
winter. Mingled with these rose-trees are azalias and andromedas in
great variety; among the azalias are the Cruenta^ Princeps^ Aurelia^ and
Gloria Mundi^ and also the Kalmia latifolia^ neat and pretty in its
cup-like clustered bloom, but poisonous to the grazing herds.
The main house, in its interior, presents attractions quite in keeping
with those of its exterior surroundings, and gives ample evidence of
cultured and disciplined taste. On entering, one passes a stone porch
Entrance into the vcstibulc, decorated in Pompeiian colors, thence into the main
and main
hall hall, with its elaborate parquetry flooring, covered with Oriental rugs,
and embellished with statuary. Here is also a remarkable example of
an old Dutch clock, which by its various dials marks the transit of
the hours, days, months, and years, as well as the procession of various
phenomena of the heavens and the earth.
The principal floor is divided into four large, well-proportioned
rooms en suite^ all opening from the spacious entrance-hall, and looking
Dining- outward upon liberal verandas and terraces. The large dining-room is
finished in carved walnut. The chairs are of walnut, ebony, and em-
bossed leather; of the same woods is the furniture, including a buffet
whose ample shelves display rare examples of pottery. This room com-
mands, toward the south, the principal lawn, and connects on the east,
by wide, engraved-glass doors, with a conservatory or plant-cabinet, the
frequent tasteful arrangement of the supply of which offers alike to
guest and host, in opulence of leaf and bloom, and in softening effects
of
room.
Villa Bos cob el, the Home of Mrs. William B. Ogden. 179
of the gossamer fringes of the most delicate ferns, all the charms of an
ever-varying picture, before which the critic is compelled to be mute.
A gardener's entrance to the conservatory is arranged from the exterior,
and the butler's pantry communicates immediately with the kitchen and
offices, which occupy the easternmost part of the house. On the north
side of the hall are the billiard-room, office, and lavatory.
The library is well supplied with the works of standard authors in "^he libra-
ry.
the finest editions. It is elaborately frescoed and furnished, and finished
in ebony and oak; is well lighted from the north and by a spacious
bay-window on the west, and is connected with the capacious drawing-
room by broad sliding-doors. From the latter room one enters, at the
side of a sculptured marble mantel, a smaller parlor, hung with silk-stuff
curtains and portikres^ and having its nice little corner open fire-place.
Both rooms connect with the principal hall, and are wainscoted and
finished in satin and rose-wood.
The drawing-room has also a spacious bay on the west, and opens '^^^ draw-
ing-room.
upon the terrace and veranda on the south. Its hangings are of superb
lace, and other rich textiles of delicate hue. A crystal-glass chandelier,
which flashes into light at the electric touch, with the wall-brackets, also
of prismatic glass, gives to the whole apartment the air of spacious elegance.
It is liberally furnished with the richest materials of silk and and satin,
illustrated with bronzes, mosaics, marbles, and paintings — among which
are chef-d'ceuvres of Schreyer, Meyer von Bremen, De Haas, Ziermann,
Bela, and other masters.
The large and numerous apartments of the upper stories comprehend,
in their arrangement and furnishing, the suggestions of an elegant and
refined taste, enhanced by the requirements of comfort and convenience.
Among them should be mentioned a capacious theatre, with its scenery,
stage, foot-lights, and essential paraphernalia.
But, on another stage, there is a drama afoot, in which the individual
actor plays but a minor part. The restless multitude are the players, and
the procession of actual life forms the ever-shifting scenery; the hopes,
the wishes, the plans, of the individual are overlaid and unremembered.
The
'^o Artistic Houses.
The indications of the march hitherward of the great city are
unmistakable. Already the din and turmoil of its activities are the
distinctly audible echoes of its approaching footsteps. It works its out-
ward way in every direction toward the distant hills hooded with groves.
Approach- The compass and the chain, emblems and heralds of a systematized
ing changes.
and intelligent material progress, are busy fixing the plan that is soon
to absorb and obliterate every green thing in the vicinage. Rural lawns,
the familiar drives, the rustic pathways, the road-side inns, the cottager's
home, and even the little rivulets that have always babbled along their
pebbled beds, are threatened by an insatiable progress.
The lines of future streets and avenues, soon to be thronged by a
busied population, are already traced over the surface of the premises.
Fortunately, that portion essential to the integrity of the Villa is so
arranged as to render it improbable that the improvements, upon which
its present proprietor has expended so much of thought, and time, and
taste, will soon be disturbed. The estate, of which it formed a con-
spicuous part, is already within the limits of New York, and its
fortunes are now fairly linked with those of that great city.
MR. KNIGHT D. CHENEY'S HOUSE.
One of the best-known houses in Connecticut is Mr. Knight D.
Cheney's, in South Manchester, near Hartford, and our illustration
shows the drawing-room, with a glimpse of the hall. The size alone
is striking ; few private houses in this country have apartments of so ^ princely
apartment
princely proportions; but the treatment of the walls and ceiling of this
magnificent room is more striking still. The light enters from a large
bay-window at the right, and falls over the luxurious carpet and table-
covers upon the high-paneled wainscoting at the extreme left. This
wainscoting disappears in book-shelves on one side of the room, and is
partly hidden by a writing-desk on another side. The wall-spaces above
it are covered with leather of a low, rich tone; the coved frieze is
frescoed; and the ceiling is laid out in a series of panels, which are
painted for the most part with foliage designs.
Nothing could be better in keeping with the general spirit of the
decoration than the mantel-piece, at the left of the principal entrance. Notable
mantel-
its fire-opening plainly framed in with marble, and its upper part con- piece.
sisting of two shelves, surmounted by paneled mirrors of plate-glass,
which, even in the picture, reflect the designs of the ceiling so as to
give to the room an almost unlimited depth. The beautiful soft fabrics
of the hangings and the furniture-coverings were selected with exquisite
taste, and the interior, from first to last, including the minutest detail,
is as much a nocturne, or symphony in color, as any painting Whistler
ever painted.
MR. SWITS CONDE'S HOUSE.
One of the most notable houses in Western New York is that of
Mr. SwiTS CoNDfi, of Syracuse, of which an illustration is given here-
with. The hall and vestibule are finished in St. Domingo mahogany,
with wainscoting, doors, staircase, and chimney-piece, richly carved.
Fire-place, chandelier, and metal-work, are of antique brass; side-walls
of decorated flock, with Pompeian-red background and relief in bronze;
furniture-coverings, of Spanish leather. The ceiling and stair soflits are
a combination of mahogany and flock, made specially for the place by
Edouard Leissner, of New York, and entering into the general harmony
of the colors. On the stair-landing, back of the chimney-piece, is a
novel arrangement of mirrors, which has the effect of reflecting the Novel ar-
rangement
upper hall, and making it appear as an addition to the main hall ; so of mirrors.
perfect is the deception that no one unacquainted with the scheme
would suppose that the result is only a reflection, unless by the use of
other senses than that of sight. The chimney-piece, which is of
mahogany and antique brass, has carvings representing Night and
Morning; and a clock in the center, which furnishes chimes and tunes
at quarter, half, and full hours. At its apex is a large bat, carved as
if clinging to the top ; and on the chimney is the legend, " Well
befall hearth and hall." At the right hangs an old portrait, done in
1662, of Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Cond^, called Conde the Great,
from whom Mr. Swits Cond6 has the honor of claiming descent. At
the left of the hall is the library, also wood-work of mahogany,
including the ceiling, with side-walls of a deep, rich bronze plush.
The furniture-covering and curtains are of bronze and Indian-red
velours ;
184- Artistic Houses.
velours ; the portieres^ of mahogany colors in plush and gold trim-
mings; and the alcove, with red-brick fire-place, is partly shut off by
a screen of mahogany and stained glass.
'^he break' The breakfast-room is a perfect gem, and somewhat novel, as it is
fast-room. ^ ^ r & ' J
entirely of light-golden woods, making a delicate contrast of color, and
was designed specially for daylight effects. The different woods used
are white and curly maple, with now and then a panel of yellow pine.
The side-walls and ceiling are delicately paneled, molded, and carved,
representing fish, fruit, and game; and the furniture and chimney-piece
are of the same woods. The furniture-coverings and curtains are of
crushed strawberry-colored plush, and the portieres of sage-green plush,
in light tones, and ornamented in fine scroll-work. The large windows
admit a flood of light through stained glass of delicate tints.
The house is beautifully situated, on a corner opposite a large park,
and contains fifty rooms, and an addition, with an entrance from the
dining-room, of conservatories, covering an area at least one hundred
by seventy feet, all constructed in a most artistic manner, from plans
by Mr. O. S. Teale, of No. 247 Broadway, the architect of the house.
Navel One room is specially admired, namely, the wine-cellar, a spacious
wine-
cellar, apartment, with proper arrangements for equable temperature. The
design is that of a cave of rocks, with bold, jagged projections, all
arranged so as to provide pockets, shelves, and grottoes, to receive the
thousands of bottles, and so natural that it might be considered as the
secret hiding-place for the treasures of a pirate crew, with colored
lights here and there, whose glistening reflection upon the rocks, and
the blue and red and green caps of the bottles, produce an effect
weird in the extreme. The idea is original, beautiful, and appropriate.
The side-walls and ceilings of the whole interior of the house are
decorated, even to those of the smallest closets, and the third floor has
as fine work as the first. Mr. Conde's mansion does credit to the
architecture of the new era.
MR. JOHN L. GARDNER'S (JR.) HOUSE.
One of the most pleasing designs in this tenth section is that of
Mr. John L. Gardner's (Jr.) house, by Mr. John Sturgis, the Boston
architect, and in every respect characteristic of his work. We have
reproduced the hall, and our readers will agree that its determining
characteristics are, at least, of a kind quite apart from those of most
of the halls in this volume. Mr. Sturgis neither slavishly repeats
himself nor sacrifices color to line. In this particular design his care "The hall.
has been much more for line than for color, and before the painter's
brush had made a single stroke the substantial beauty of the scheme
was secure. Entered by a series of steps at the left, under a balcony
filled with exotic plants that thrive in the abundant sunshine, the hall
is practically but a spacious landing-place for a noble flight of stairs,
so easy of ascent that a modern elevator would seem a supererogatory
convenience. The mantel-piece, with its columns, its niches, its bas-
relief ornamentations, and its inlaid canvas, is an architectural study
of importance, which would engage the attention of the professional
student. The walls are paneled in wood to the ceiling, which is left
entirely devoid of ornamentation. This hall is, in all respects, a strik-
ing and admirable performance.
MR. FRANKLIN H. TINKER'S HOUSE.
The library of Mr. Franklin H. Tinker, at Short Hills, New
Jersey, as shown in the accompanying illustration, has recently been
enlarged and redecorated by Messrs. Lamb and Rich, the architects.
All the wood-work, including the furniture, is in mahogany. Heavily-
curtained windows admit a tempered light, in which the bronzed Lin-
crusta gleams dully, and gives to the whole interior an air of dusky
elegance. The chief feature of the room is the beamed and vaulted Chief feat-
J J • . ... 1 • 1 1 1 ure of the
addition, termmatmg in an octagon lined with low cases, over which library.
are three stained-glass windows, representing respectively Art, Science,
and History. The tiled and recessed mantel and fire-place, extending
nearly across the opposite end of the room, are also strikingly effective.
Apart from its architectural merit, this room is noteworthy for the
unusual interest of its literary contents. The books, which are well
selected throughout, embrace a rare collection of autographic copies, Avtograph-
the assembling of which is the owner's hobby. The works of Victor VolT^ "^
Hugo, Lord Tennyson, Ruskin, Bancroft, Whittier, Holmes, Aldrich,
Agnes Strickland, and scores of others, are enriched by letters from the
authors, or are presentation copies. A charming and costly collection
of signed and proof engravings and etchings forms a fitting complement
to these bibliographic treasures.
MR. C OLIVER ISELIN'S HOUSE.
Hunter's Island, Westchester County, New York, is the home of
Mr. C. Oliver Iselin. The surroundings are rural in the extreme, and
very picturesque. The house is situated near the center of the island,
overlooking the broad, sail-flecked expanse of Long Island Sound, and
approached by long, winding, leafy avenues. It is represented in this
portfolio by the hall, the special feature of which, architecturally speak- '^^^ ^''^^^•
ing, is the wide and graceful arch that frames the staircase. The design
of the staircase is singularly novel and effective. You ascend easily from
the broad hall by six steps to the first landing; thence by as many
more at the right to the second landing; and thence to the second
floor. The walls are intricately paneled to the ceiling, from which
hangs a beautiful lantern. On the balustrade above the first landing is
a fine specimen of a peacock, the tints of whose plumage strike a high
note in the midst of the surrounding soberness.
MR. H. M. FLAGLER'S HOUSE.
The country-seat of Mr. H. M. Flagler, at Mamaroneck, is one
of the principal suburban features of New York City. Both externally
and internally it appeals to the most cultivated tastes; and the bound-
less hospitality which it dispenses has become a maxim among Mr.
Flagler's friends. The view given herewith is characteristic of the
interior, and its principal points are of a kind to delight an architect.
Among these is the charming balcony effect of the first landing of the Balcony
noble stairway, with its elaborately-carved coat-of-arms. The newel-
posts and balustrades are handsomely carved, and the floor is of para-
quetry, in choice designs. There is not a detail of this magnificent
hall that does not bear its own evidence of fitness, and its own
assurance of artistic feeling on the part of both architect and decorator.
MR. HENRY BELDEN'S HOUSE.
The two principal attractions of Mr. Henry Belden's house, in
Fifth Avenue, fronting Central Park, are the library, on the second
floor, and the dining-room, on the first floor. The library contains, in
addition to many works of pictorial art, a large collection of books, in
cherry cases, that line the walls to a height of about five feet. Near
it is Mr. Belden's office, approached through a small anteroom or hall.
The dining-room is finished in oak, with a mantel-piece of colored ^^^^''^'
marble. Two immense Chinese porcelain vases stand on either side of
the fire-opening, above which the design shows niches for other porce-
lains and for bronzes; but the shelf is not littered with ornaments.
This negative feature is in harmony with the general aspect of the
surroundings. There is, perhaps, not a beautiful dining-room in the
city whose plan of decoration is at once so simple, without baldness,
and so solid. The most striking effect in Mr. Belden's dining-room is
the immense screen of spindle and perforated work. All the furniture
is of oak, as are the conspicuous beams of the ceiling. There is con-
siderable carving of a refined order both on the furniture and the
mantel.
MR. JAMES W. WADSWORTH'S HOUSE.
Hall, sitting-room, and reception-room combined — yet in the scheme
of the edijSce only a hall — are seen in the illustration that represents
Mr. J. W. Wadsworth's house. The decorator and the architect here
are one, and their plan required for its fulfillment scarcely any material
but wood. This method of treatment, costly, of course, produces an Method of
' ^^ ' ^ treatment.
indescribable effect of honest solidity, or solid honesty, and gives to the
visitor at the outset a comfortable and satisfying impression. While the
staircase is the principal motifs its design has been worked out with a
view to making it a component part of the decoration, and accordingly
we have that rare product, a hall that is not obstructed by its provision
for enabling a person to reach the second story. Most halls would be
more desirable without their staircases; in this hall the staircase, so far
from being in the way, or from inartistically breaking the leading lines,
is part and parcel of the place itself. Mostly relegated to one end of
the apartment, and shut off by a screen of much architectural suggest-
iveness and beauty, it does not block up even that end itself, its
proportions being slight, and its starting-point entirely hidden. Then,
too, on the first landing we have a charming balcony-effect, surmounted ^^f^^ony-
by an oval window of exquisitely-colored glass, which detains the guest
who is ascending, as if it would rest him with the contemplation of
its glowing but subdued lusters. There is a striking piece of glass-
work, also, in the transom of the principal entrance. Some of the
easiest chairs ever sat upon are to be found in this hall ; and the low,
wide lounge, near the principal door, is a cordial invitation to tired
limbs.
MR. WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER'S HOUSE.
Mr. William F. Havemeyer's house, at Orange, New Jersey, has
recently been reconstructed internally, by Messrs. Roux and Company,
of New York, and the effect is altop;ether changed. The drawinp;-room "^^^ ^^^^
*-^ ° ing-room.
is in chestnut and mahogany, with ornamentations of perforated brass,
and stained-glass windows. Japanese paper, with armorial designs on
a background of faded red, covers the walls, and the ceiling is a series
of fret-work panels. The mantel has a novel arrangement of shelving
(as the illustration shows), and a plastic ornamentation representing the
rising sun. The wainscoting is four feet six inches high.
The smoking-room has been finished in mahogany, and is an
extremely comfortable apartment. There are many shelves for bric-a-
brac^ with drapery underneath. The chimney-piece is of brick, the
wall-spaces are covered with leather-paper, and the chairs, table, and
cabinet, are in Chippendale style. A pretty effect is produced by the
spindle- work in the transoms of the doors. The floors throughout the
house are of hard wood.
The Japanese room, or Mr. Havemeyer's "den," has one conspicuous
feature in its arched rattan ceiling;. The walls are decorated in solid Arched
° rattan
relief, and hung with Turkish gauze curtains. All the wood-work is ceiling.
of enameled pine. The two arched panels formed by the lines of the
ceiling are painted in bronzes, in Japanese style.
Mr. Havemeyer's house affords an interesting example of the results
of an artistic interior renovation. The color-effects are very delicate
and pleasing.
J'
..■;<■
MR. R. T. WILSON'S DINING-ROOM.
I
Q
(9
riMMM
MR. JAMES IV. ALEXANDER'S HALL.
MR. A. /'. POTTER'S HALL.
i
«
li
MR. H. O. ARMOUR'S HALL.
1
J- . .. » -. -^
I
MR. H. O. ARMOUR'S DINING-ROOM,
1
LIEUTE .,
_^:oi-^rj?.::r^ /Mr<;-S HALL {First Vfr^v).
ii^^^mm^^mmw
1
4
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES'S HALL {Second View).
7
ainM I
11
1
tmmmms^^
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES'S LIBRARY.
mu^mjutka. I I I I I m
I!
1
y.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES'S DINING-ROOM (First Vzew).
i
1
-IJ^Ilil
I
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AMES'S DINING-ROOM {Second View).
4.
'mmmmm^'^^^
9"
V^
II
i"*^^
V
k-
! r-^
yo
:.^
GENERAL C. A. WHITTIER'S HALL,
GENERAL C. A. IVHIT TIER'S LIBRARY.
-i ite rtiwt^.-..- , — . — .,-.:,. , :. . i . .. , ^ ,... .- __ — ____ — «i*d^
imtfifaii li'iiiiiniiii
'^» -1"- irsji
GENERAL C. A. WHITTIER'S DINING-ROOM.
.....^•^..■L.. ..- .-^i.^,-|^;,^.^^^_..^
!%^-' ■-■'■•--
i
fS
MRS. C. A. WHITTIER'S BOUDOIR.
#1^'
/t
1
MR. R. H. WHITE'S PARLOR.
^i
GENERAL N. L. ANDERSON'S HALL.
^m^
m^B^mtm
h
GENERAL N. L. ANDERSON'S DINING-ROOM.
n
m '*ivmfm^m9iwntmf!9^^
mmmmr^
' »\
GENERAL N. L. ANDERSON'S SITTING-ROOM.
|?:S:
MRS. BOWLER'S HALL.
n
PIPV
^gm
MR. GODDARD'S LIBRARY.
i
It
I
MR. GODDARD'S DINING-ROOM.
"LI
VI
DR. HAVEN'S DINING-ROOM.
I
MR. J. H. WHITE'S DINING-ROOM.
ti
i.1
MR. W. S. HOYT'S HALL.
^1
l1
MR. JOSEPH S. DECKER'S DINING-ROOM.
I
P^
MR. JOHN WOLFE'S DINING-ROOM.
U"
iihfaiii'i I
it
\
PI
MJ?. J. TAYLOR JOHNSTON'S PARLOR.
u?
DR. WILLIAM T. L USA'S DINING-ROOM.
Xi
MR GILBERT R. PAYSON'S DINING-ROOM.
'1
mm
'1
MR. IV. S. KIMBALLS HALL.
JO
%o
I
i
i
MjR. W. S. KIMBALL'S LIBRARY. |
it
31
[■ ■
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S RECEPTION-ROOM AND HALL.
s^
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S DINING-ROOM.
13
*
s
(
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S DRAWING-ROOM.
it
iV
MR. HENRY VILLARV'S AfC^SIC-RUOM.
if
1
>i-
m
V
»
MJi. HENRY VILLARD'S BEDROOM.
Jt
I
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S HALL [looking West).
\-\
'
ST
MR. HENRY VILLARD'S HALL {Second Vz'ew).
is
2»
REV. PHILLIPS BROOKS'S LIBRARY.
31
^mldlii'r^'^tiU^tMa.:^ ,^.../M,.»..^^i.'.ti..,a>t.^..i^v„.^.- '■■-. Y-.-,
I
i1
MR. HENRY S. HOVEY'S SITTING-ROOM.
I
Vo
I
I
MR. FRANK /-(/RJVESSS SMOKING-ROOM
I
MR. JOHN G. CHAPMAN'S GALLERY.
•*•»-
I
MRS. IV. B. OG DEN'S LIBRARY.
Ui
^^^^^m^^^m
i
MR. KNIGHT D. CHENEY'S DRAWrNG-ROOM.
Vf
11
i
MR. SWITS CONDE'S HALL.
V
MR. JOHN L. GARDENER'S {JR.) HALL.
v«.
MR. FRANKLIN H. TINKER'S LIBRARY.
V7
. '.'.fen IIIBIIIWIM 1 1 |IHB .
MR. C. OLIVER ISELIN'S HALL.
n
^t
4
MR. H. M. FLAGLER'S HALL.
.7
'*1
I
p
MR. HENRY BELDEN'S DINING-ROOM.
i-6
To
'n
MR. JAMES W. WADSWORTH'S HALL.
i"l
MR. WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER'S DRAWING-ROOM.
f,.
I
^ -grv^A..
/
A DRAWING-ROOM IN FIFTY-FIFTH STREET, NEIV YORK.
i*
.«rii«d^
' "• " ••. ,
\
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American Libraries
TV News
Understanding 9/11